Nearly 2,200 students to get diplomas Friday, Saturday

The University will award degrees to nearly 2,200 students during spring commencement exercises Friday and Saturday (May 7 and 8).

President Sidney A. Ribeau will preside at main-campus ceremonies, in Anderson Arena. At BGSU Firelands, graduation will be held in the new Cedar Point Center for the first time.

The spring graduating class represents 73 of Ohio’s 88 counties, 37 states and 18 nations.

In the Graduate College, 335 students will receive degrees, including 25 doctoral candidates and three candidates for the doctor of education degree.

Among the roughly 1,850 undergraduate students who will receive associate or bachelor’s degrees are 478 students who are graduating with honors. Students graduating summa cum laude have maintained a grade point average between 3.9-4.0 on a 4.0 scale while completing a bachelor’s degree program.

Magna cum laude honors are given to bachelor’s degree candidates for maintaining grade point averages between 3.76-3.9, and cum laude recognition is given to those who have maintained averages between 3.5-3.75.

Ceremonies for the Graduate College will be held at 7 p.m. Friday. The speaker will be Joseph Jacoby, sociology.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, University alumnus George Mylander, a philanthropist and former Sandusky mayor and educator, will address BGSU Firelands graduates in the Cedar Point Center, which opened last fall.

The College of Arts and Sciences, whose commencement speaker will be Thomas Klein, English and director of BGSU’s Chapman Community at Kohl Hall, will hold graduation at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Three graduating students in the colleges of Business Administration, Health and Human Services, and Technology will address their peers at 1 p.m. ceremonies on Saturday. The speakers are bachelor’s degree candidates Tracy LaHote of Bowling Green, business administration; Tiffany Ryan of Defiance, communication disorders, and Jacqueline Gallo of Twinsburg, technology.

Students in the College of Musical Arts and the College of Education and Human Development will graduate at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and hear BGSU alumna Magdalena Fribley, manager of fitness, aquatics and spa facilities at New Albany (Ohio) Country Club.

Tickets are required for admission to all the ceremonies being held on Saturday. Those without tickets can see Saturday’s ceremonies live via streaming video in 101 Olscamp Hall, on Time Warner Cable Channel 6 in the Bowling Green area and through a BGSU home-page link to cable modem and DSL connections.