Wittenberg University’s 170th Commencement exercises will take place Saturday, May 16, in picturesque Commencement Hollow, where members of the university community will celebrate scholarship with more than 425 degree candidates slated to cross the stage.
The Myers Hall bell will toll at multiple times Saturday morning to notify the campus that the ceremony will be held in its intended outdoor location at the scheduled time of 11:30 a.m. If the bell does not ring, that will be a signal that the ceremony will take place in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER) Center, with doors scheduled to open at 9 a.m. Guests should be seated at either venue no later than 11 a.m.
If the ceremony is moved to the HPER Center, doors to Pam Evans Smith Arena will close at 11:15 a.m. to allow for movement of the academic procession. No one will be permitted to enter the arena after the doors have closed. Guests without tickets are welcomed and encouraged to view the ceremony via a video broadcast transmitted to classrooms throughout Hollenbeck Hall.
Special parking and seating have been arranged for physically disabled guests. For Commencement exercises held outdoors, physically disabled guests may enter campus before 10 a.m. through the drive on North Plum Street. A Wittenberg security officer will be at the driveway entrance to give instructions for parking and seating. In the event the exercises are held indoors, guests who are physically disabled may be dropped off in front of the HPER Center. Because of limited space in the HPER Center, seating is at a premium, so disabled guests may be seated with only one friend or family member.
Those scheduled for recognition during the Commencement ceremony include more than a dozen “non-traditional” students from the School of Community Education and international students from Brazil, China, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Georgia, Japan, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Africa and Vietnam.
A total of 121 graduates will earn Latin honors in recognition of their exceptional academic pursuits. 56 of them will be designated cum laude (3.5-3.69 grade point average), 20 will graduate magna cum laude (3.7-3.79) and 45 will graduate summa cum laude (3.8-4.0), including two students who hold perfect 4.0 grade point averages: Garrhett Via and Taylor Weisheit.
The 2015 Commencement speaker is American Hospital Association Regional Executive Kim Byas, Wittenberg University class of 1974. With more than 30 years of experience in healthcare administration, Byas has served as president, CEO and consultant for a variety of organizations, including Kailo Alliance, Inc. and Coopers & Lybrand. He currently serves as a regional executive for the American Hospital Association, overseeing a region that encompasses Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. He has also served on the boards of directors for the Asian Health Care Leaders Association for the past six years and on the board of directors of Chicago College of Performing Arts for the past 17 years. Additionally, he has served as a board member of March of Dimes for 26 years and currently sits as chairman.
Byas is one of three individuals receiving honors during Wittenberg’s 2015 Commencement Exercises. He will be joined on the stage Ann Ziff ’68, nationally recognized philanthropist, jewelry designer and arts supporter, who will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Harry Egger, a Springfield business leader and member of the Wittenberg Board of Directors from 1996-2002, will be awarded an honorary doctorate of human letters posthumously.
