Graduation season begins at area colleges

5/2/2009

The college graduation season began Friday night with Monroe County Community College's commencement ceremony. About 210 graduates were expected to participate in the college's 42nd graduation.

Other colleges and universities across northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan will celebrate their graduates in the coming days and weeks.

The University of Findlay and Tiffin University will hold commencement ceremonies today. More than 730 students at the University of Findlay will participate in the spring graduation ceremony at 2 p.m. in the Koehler Center. James Houdeshell, a professor emeritus at the university who also served as an athletic director, will speak.

Ohio Rep. Sandra Williams (D., Cleveland) will give the keynote address at Tiffin University's 2:30 p.m. ceremony today in the Gillmor Student Center Gymnasium. Nearly 400 students are expected to graduate.

Other area commencement ceremonies include:

•Adrian College, at 3 p.m. Sunday, at the Multisport Performance Stadium. The commencement address will be given by Kurt Darrow, a 1977 graduate of the college who is president and chief executive officer of La-Z-Boy Inc.

•Bluffton University, at 2 p.m. Sunday, at Salzman Stadium. Ronald Mathies, former executive director of Mennonite Central Committee, will speak.

•Bowling Green State University's ceremonies start with the graduate college ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday in Anderson Arena. Joan Kaderavek, an early childhood education professor at the University of Toledo, will speak. BGSU will hold separate ceremonies for its colleges on Saturday. The first is at 9:30 a.m. for the college of arts and sciences in which Logan Stone, a retired scientist at Procter & Gamble Co., will speak. That will be followed by a 1 p.m. ceremony for the colleges of musical arts and education and human development with Mark Clague, University of Michigan faculty member and professional musician, as the speaker. The final ceremony is the 4:30 p.m. graduation for the colleges of business administration, health and human services, and technology in which students will speak.

•Davis College, at 7 p.m. Friday, at the Stranahan Theater.

•Defiance College, at noon May 10, on the Colonnade Green. Rockford College President Robert Head is the keynote speaker.

•Heidelberg University, at 2 p.m. Saturday, in Seiberling Gym. Eugene "Gus" Newport, a 1958 graduate and former mayor of Berkeley, Calif., will speak.

•Hillsdale College, at 2 p.m. Saturday, on the college's east lawn. Hadley Arkes, Amerherst College's Edward N. Ney professor of American institutions, will speak.

•Lourdes College, at 1 p.m. May 16, at the SeaGate Convention Centre. Sister Cabrini Warpeha, a longtime administrator with the college, will be honored. Edward Phillip Kinsey II, the chief executive officer of Determination Ventures and founder of Ariba Inc., also will be honored and give the commencement address.

•Mercy College of Northwest Ohio, 6 p.m. Friday, at Rosary Cathedral. Robert Maxwell, retired president of the Lathrop Co., will deliver the commencement address.

•Northwest State Community College, at 2 p.m. on May 16, on the college green. U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green) will speak.

•Ohio Northern University, 2 p.m. May 24, at the Sports Center. Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher will speak. The university's law commencement will be 2 p.m. May 17, also in the Sports Center, and Ohio Supreme Court Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger will speak.

•Owens Community College, 7 p.m. Friday, in the Student Health and Activities Center. State Rep. Matt Szollosi (D., Oregon) will be the keynote speaker.

•Siena Heights University, at 2 p.m. tomorrow, in the university's fieldhouse.

•Terra Community College, at 7 p.m. Friday, in the Student Activities Center. Sandusky County Sheriff Kyle Overmyer will speak.

•University of Toledo, 9:30 a.m. May 10, in Savage Arena. World-renowned photographer Sam Abell and Norman Johnston, president and chief executive officer of McMaster Energy Enterprises, will be the commencement speakers.

The law college ceremony will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Student Union Auditorium in which James Thomas, a partner with the Squire Sanders and Dempsey law firm, will speak. The college of pharmacy's graduation ceremony will be at 6 p.m. May 10 in the Stranahan Theater, and Frederic Wolfe, founder of Health Care And Retirement Corp., will speak. The UT college of medicine's graduation will be at 4 p.m. June 5 at the Toledo Museum of Art.