Date: January 24, 2005
Contact: Michael Hopkins
Phone: (708) 534-7090
Fax: (708) 534-8399
Email: m-hopkins@govst.edu
For Immediate Release
University Park, January 24, 2005 – Governors State University will conduct its 34th commencement ceremony on Saturday, January 29, at the Holiday Inn Select and Convention Center in Tinley Park.
Nearly 700 graduate and undergraduate students will graduate from the university from four colleges – Arts and Sciences, Health Professions, Business and Public Administration, and Education – and the Board of Governors.
Frank M. Clark, president of Commonwealth Edison and member of the university’s Foundation Board, will be the honorary degree recipient. University president Stuart Fagan will confer the Doctor of Humane Letters on Clark, who has been recognized as one of the 50 most powerful black executives in the country.
The student commencement speaker will be Paula Franklin, former president of the university’s chapter of Chi Sigma Iota, the international honor society for counseling students. Franklin will receive her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Counseling.
The ceremony will be the first January commencement for the university, a move made in response to requests from the university’s student senate. The university will now hold two commencements, one in January and one in June.
Previously, the university held one commencement ceremony in June for all graduates, though students may graduate in August, December, or June.
“We’re having an extremely high turn out for this new midyear commencement ceremony,” said Dr. Lorraine Sibbet, director of the university’s Student Life Unit and commencement coordinator.
Sibbet said the increased participation rate reaffirms the decision to hold two commencements. “This is what students want,” she said. “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to make the change.”
