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Inside Iowa State, a newspaper for faculty and staff, is published by the Office of University Relations.

Dec. 12, 2008

Graduation events are Dec. 19-20

by Anne Krapfl

An estimated 1,601 students completing their degrees at the end of fall semester will be honored at two all-university ceremonies Dec. 19-20. Tickets are not needed for either event.

As of Dec. 8, an anticipated 246 master's students and 109 Ph.D. students will graduate during an 8 p.m. ceremony Friday, Dec. 19, at Stephens Auditorium. Ted Okiishi, interim vice president for research and economic development and former associate dean for research and outreach in the College of Engineering, will address the graduates.

Okiishi held the associate dean post for 12 years prior to his 2007 retirement. He joined ISU's mechanical engineering faculty in 1967. A native of Honolulu, he earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Iowa State.

An estimated 1,246 students will be honored during an undergraduate ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 20, at Hilton Coliseum. Dubuque native Kenneth Quinn, president since 2000 of the World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines and a veteran of the U.S. State Department, will address the graduates. Quinn also will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Iowa State in recognition of his public leadership and humanitarian service to the state, nation and world spanning four decades.

Honorary degree recipient

Quinn served as a rural development officer in Vietnam, member of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's national security staff at the White House, special assistant to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke in Asia, member of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Vienna and U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia (1996-99). He played a key role in exposing Cambodia's Khmer Rouge atrocities of the mid 1970s and helping end them.

From 1978 to 1982, in a federal-state exchange program, Quinn served as special assistant to Iowa Gov. Robert Ray. He directed the Indochinese resettlement program and served as executive director of Iowa SHARES, which sent medical personnel, supplies and food from Iowa to Cambodia.

Some of ISU's colleges will honor their graduating students during their own ceremonies and receptions. A complete list of commencement events follows.

Fall semester graduation events

Friday, December 19

  • 2-4 p.m., Reception, honoring international students, Sun Room, MU, 4-1120.
  • 4:30 p.m., Ceremony, College of Human Sciences, for undergraduate students, Stephens (6 p.m. reception for graduate and undergraduate students, Scheman first floor lobby), 4-7002.
  • 5-7 p.m., Ceremony, College of Business, for graduate and undergraduate students, Hilton, 4-8300.
  • 5:30-7 p.m., Reception and informal program, College of Engineering, for graduate students, 220 Scheman, 4-8857.
  • 8 p.m., Commencement, for all graduate students, Stephens, 4-9372.
  • 8 p.m., Ceremony, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, for undergraduate students, Hilton, 4-6426.

Saturday, December 20

  • 9:30-10:30 a.m., Informal programs, College of Engineering, by department (9-9:30 a.m. receptions), for undergraduate students, various campus locations, 4-8857.
  • 9:30 a.m., Convocation, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (8:30 a.m. reception), for undergraduate students, Stephens, 4-2766.
  • 10 a.m., Convocation, College of Design (9:30 a.m. reception), for undergraduate students, atrium, Design, 4-1925.
  • 1:30 p.m., Commencement, for all undergraduate students, Hilton, 4-9372.

Summary

Approximately 1,600 students will graduate this month. Ceremonies are set for Dec. 19-20.