Penn State To Hold Commencement Ceremonies On Dec. 15

11-26-96

University Park, Pa. -- Penn State will hold its fall 1996 commencement ceremonies for approximately 3,400 associate, undergraduate and graduate degree students on Sunday, Dec. 15, at the University Park Campus.

The undergraduate and associate degree ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center, and the Graduate School ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. in Eisenhower Auditorium. As of mid-November, the number of students scheduled to receive degrees at the two University Park ceremonies is 3,491. That figure includes 348 associate, 2,451 baccalaureate, 494 master's and 198 doctoral degree students.

In addition to the degrees earned at University Park, 202 baccalaureate degrees and nine master's degrees were earned at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, and 254 baccalaureate degrees, 65 master's degrees and one doctoral degree were earned at Penn State Harrisburg.

Graham B. Spanier, University president, will confer degrees at both the baccalaureate and associate degree program and the Graduate School program. John A. Brighton, the University's executive vice president and provost, will preside at the 1 p.m. undergraduate and associate degree ceremony, and Rodney Erickson, dean of the Graduate School, will preside at the 4 p.m. Graduate School ceremony.

U.S. Rep. Robert S. Walker, R-16th District, Pa., chairman of the House Committee on Science, will speak at the undergraduate and associate degree ceremony, and Anne R. Peterson, senior vice president for programs at the Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, Mich., and former dean of Penn State's College of Health and Human Development, will speak at the Graduate School ceremony.

Walker, who has served in Congress since 1977, has been a strong advocate of basic research. He is vice chair of the House Committee on Budget, chair of the Republican leadership group and a member of the Republican Steering Committee.

Raised and educated in Millersville, Walker has a B.S. degree in education from Millersville University and a master's degree in political science from the University of Delaware. Walker's district includes Lancaster and Chester counties; he is retiring at the end of his current two-year term.

Peterson provides overall leadership for programming at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, a private grantmaking foundation established in 1930 to "help people help themselves." Its current priorities include higher education, youth, leadership, volunteerism and community-based, problem-focused health services. Previously, Peterson was deputy director of the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., and vice president for research and dean of the graduate school at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.

Peterson, who has an international reputation for her research into adolescence, was at Penn State for 10 years. She served as dean of the College of Health and Human Development from 1987 to 1992; before that she was head of the Department of Individual and Family Studies (now Human Development and Family Studies).

During the commencement ceremonies, student marshals -- chosen from each college on the basis of academic performance -- will lead the graduates to be recognized, along with faculty members they have chosen as marshals to accompany them. The student and faculty marshals are:

-- Holly J. Holcomb of Boalsburg, who is majoring in agricultural business management in the College of Agricultural Sciences, and Frank M. Goode, associate professor of agricultural economics.

-- Valerie Susan Shustack of Perkasie, a University Scholar who is majoring in music education in the College of Arts and Architecture, and Eleanor Duncan Armstrong, associate professor of music.

-- Patrick Andrew Smith of York, a University Scholar who is majoring in business logistics in the Smeal College of Business Administration, and John E. Tyworth, professor of business logistics.

-- Meredith Schaffran of Frederick, Md., a University Scholar majoring in journalism in the College of Communications, and Virginia Mansfield Richardson, associate professor of journalism.

-- Micah Arthur Weltmer of New Cumberland, who is majoring in geosciences in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, and Earl K. Graham, professor of geophysics and associate head for geosciences undergraduate programs.

-- Allison Lynn Imdorf of Clarks Summit, a University Scholar who is majoring in elementary and kindergarten education in the College of Education, and Patrick Shannon, professor of education.

-- Zeynep Ton of New York City, New York, a University Scholar majoring in industrial engineering in the College of Engineering, and Kenneth Knott, professor emeritus of industrial engineering.

-- Jennifer Cooper of Philadelphia, who is majoring in exercise and sport science in the College of Health and Human Development, and Robert Ricketts, instructor of kinesiology.

-- Carylanna Kathryn Taylor of Washington, a University Scholar who is majoring in Latin American Studies in the College of the Liberal Arts, and David Shapiro, associate professor of economics and women's studies.

-- Funda Ozbakir of Chambersburg, who is majoring in premedicine in the Eberly College of Science, and Frank Kristine, assistant professor of chemistry.

-- Gwenn Heintz of Pittsburgh, who is majoring in nursing in the College of Health and Human Development, has been chosen as the student marshal for the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC).

Graduates, parents and friends planning to attend the ceremonies may park in lots adjacent to the Jordan Center for the undergraduate and associate degree ceremony at 1 p.m. and in the Eisenhower Deck for the Graduate School ceremony at 4 p.m.

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Contact: Alan Janesch (814) 865-7517 (office) axj12@psu.edu