- Distinguished professorship named in honor of Chancellor Bardo
- Fall commencement set for Dec. 19 at Ramsey Center
- Nursing degree can be earned in one year through ABSN program
- WCU novelist Ron Rash wins second Sir Walter Raleigh Award
- Senior named top mathematics education student in region
- Bids opened for new MAHEC building; part of venture with WCU, UNCA
- Board of trustees approves proposed tuition, fees for 2010-11
- Steps toward WCU-Dillsboro partnership continue with campus tour
- Students win national awards at mediation tournament
- 'Meeting Doctor' to lead Jan. 21 workshop at WCU
Western Carolina University will honor its fall graduating class, and recognize another group of graduates who received their degrees after this year’s summer school sessions, as the university holds fall commencement at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19.
The ceremony at the Ramsey Regional Activity Center is open to everyone and no tickets are required for admission. WCU Chancellor John W. Bardo will preside over commencement and deliver the charge to the fall semester degree candidates and summer graduates.
WCU’s fall class includes approximately 650 students who are currently completing academic requirements to receive their degrees. Other graduates who completed degree requirements during this year’s summer school sessions and who have already been conferred degrees also are eligible to participate in the Dec. 19 commencement. After the university suspended August commencements due to budgetary concerns, this year’s summer graduates were given the option of taking part in WCU’s commencements in May or December.
Activities during the Dec. 19 ceremony will include the awarding of an honorary doctor of arts degree to bluegrass musician Marc Reagan Pruett and a posthumous honorary doctor of arts degree to Josefina Maria Niggli.
A Haywood County native and resident, Pruett has earned wide acclaim as one of the nation’s great masters of the five-string banjo during a stage and recording career that has spanned more than four decades. Niggli was a writer and teacher who led the development of WCU’s theater arts program and inspired legions of students during her two decades of teaching at the university.
Jordan Parsons of Cullowhee, a graduating senior and member of WCU’s Honors College, will deliver the primary commencement address. Parsons will be receiving bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and communication, and she plans to begin academic study in WCU’s master of arts in teaching program in January.
The commencement audience should enter the Ramsey Center through one of four upper concourse doors. Those with physical disabilities should use the northeastern upper entrance, adjacent to the stands of E.J. Whitmire Stadium.
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Last modified: Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009