BOWLING GREEN, O.—Bowling Green State University master teacher Dr. Michael French will be the University’s fall commencement speaker.

About 1,100 students are expected to graduate during the ceremonies on Dec. 17 and Dec. 18 at Anderson Arena in Memorial Hall.

Commencement exercises for the Graduate College will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 17, while ceremonies for the undergraduate colleges will be held at 10 a.m. Dec. 18. University President Sidney A. Ribeau will preside.

French returned to the classroom full time last year after 13 years as director of BGSU’s Martha Gesling Weber Reading Center. He received the University’s 2003 Master Teacher Award, one of the highest honors bestowed upon faculty because students choose the recipient for excellence in the classroom.

French, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, joined the Bowling Green faculty in 1989 as an associate professor and reading center director. He has also served as graduate coordinator and assistant chair in the Department of Educational Curriculum and Instruction.

The author of various books and journal articles on literacy, he has obtained numerous grants supporting schools in the community, Ohio Reads and the America Reads Challenge.

Bowling Green’s fall graduating class includes 24 candidates for Ph.D.s, 4 candidates for doctor of education degrees, 1 candidate for the specialist in education degree, 247 master’s degree candidates, and 825 candidates for bachelor’s degrees.

(Posted December 09, 2004 )