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WMU to confer some 2,900 degrees SaturdayApril 23, 2007 KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University will grant degrees to more than 2,900 students during four commencement ceremonies Saturday, April 28, in Miller Auditorium. Interim President Diether H. Haenicke will preside over the first and fourth ceremonies while Provost Janet I. Pisaneschi will preside over the second and third ceremonies. Leading off the day's graduation exercises will be a ceremony at 9 a.m. for graduates of the College of Aviation and Haworth College of Business. This ceremony will include the presentation of an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree to James F. Hettinger, president and chief executive officer of Battle Creek Unlimited in Battle Creek, Mich. The second ceremony, set for noon, will be for graduates of the College of Education and Extended University Programs. The third ceremony will start at 3 p.m. and is for graduates of the colleges of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Fine Arts, and Health and Human Services. The final ceremony will be at 6 p.m. for graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences. During the four ceremonies, WMU will confer an estimated 2,927 degrees: 2,411 at the bachelor's level, 495 at the master's level, one at the specialist level and 20 at the doctoral level. The April graduation exercises will feature music by the Western Brass Ensemble, conducted by Steve Wolfinbarger. The national anthem and the alma mater will be sung by the University's chapter of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia professional music fraternity, conducted by Nicholas Beers Michiels. Graduates will be welcomed as new alumni of the University by Kirk Hoffman, president of the WMU Alumni Association. Tickets are required for guests to attend commencement, and each participating student is eligible to reserve up to four guest tickets. Should there be extra tickets, students who are participating in one of the exercises may request up to two more tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis from the Miller Auditorium box office beginning 8 a.m. Friday, April 27. After all ticketed guests have been seated in Miller, any remaining open seats will be offered to those without tickets. Guests without tickets may view the commencement ceremonies live on a television in Room 3512 Knauss Hall, which is near Miller. All of the April ceremonies will be broadcast live on Channel 28 of EduCABLE, the University's cable television system, and throughout the Kalamazoo area on one of the Community Access Cable channels (channels 19-22) on the Charter Communications cable system. Live Internet broadcasts of the ceremonies will be available online to a limited number of people the day of graduation. Those needing help setting up their computers for online video streaming may contact WMU's Office of Information Technology weekdays at helpdesk@wmich.edu or (269) 387-4357. The University will be providing professional recordings of the ceremonies on DVD and VHS videotape. The recordings will cost $25 each, plus shipping and formatting fees if any, and may be ordered by calling (269) 387-0459. In addition, a professional photographer will be taking pictures of each graduating student. Color proofs will be sent to the students, but purchase of prints is optional. More information about graduation exercises and how to obtain tickets, recordings or student photos is available at www.wmich.edu/commencement. A final list of April 2007 graduates will be posted on WMU's Web site in early summer. Media contact: Jeanne Baron, (269) 387-8400, jeanne.baron@wmich.edu WMU News |
