UW-Green Bay to graduate biggest mid-year class to date

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is on pace this semester to break a mid-year graduation record, as more than 400 bachelor’s and master’s degree students have applied to complete their degrees.

More than 300 of the 422 students who had applied for graduation as of Dec. 13 will take part in commencement ceremonies at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17 at the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts on campus, 2420 Nicolet Drive. Five students have applied to complete graduate degrees, while 417 have applied to finish undergraduate degrees.

The number of December graduates at UW-Green Bay has increased steadily during the past several years, according to the University’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. In 2010, 396 students applied for mid-year graduation, up from 391 in 2009 and 339 in 2008.

Here are some additional facts and figures about UW-Green Bay’s December 2011 class:

—Undergraduate degree candidates range in age from 20 to 58, with a median age of 23 and an average age of 28. Fifty-six percent are younger than 25.

—Sixty-five percent of undergraduate degree candidates are female; 35 percent are male.

—The applicants’ racial and ethnic diversity mirrors the campus as a whole, with 10 percent of degree candidates coming from U.S. minority groups and 1 percent from foreign countries.

—Twenty-one percent of December 2011 undergraduate degree candidates are alumni of Brown County high schools. They hail from Green Bay Preble High School (16), Bay Port High School (13), Green Bay Southwest (nine), Green Bay West (eight), Ashwaubenon High School (seven), De Pere High School (seven), Green Bay East (seven), West De Pere High School (seven), Pulaski Community High School (six), Green Bay Notre Dame Academy (two), Denmark High School (one), Providence Academy (one) and Wrightstown High School (one).

—Degree candidates come from Wisconsin and 15 other states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

—Flags designating the various nations of origin of this semester’s graduates will be carried in the opening procession. Along with students from the United States, the December 2011 graduating class includes individuals from Egypt, Honduras, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Romania and Sweden; as well as the sovereign Native American nations of the Lac Courte Oreille Ojibwe, Lac du Flambeau Chippewa (Ojibwe), Menominee, Oneida and Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican.

—Thirty percent of undergraduate degree applicants completed an associate’s degree prior to attending UW-Green Bay. Thirty-five of these degrees came from the UW Colleges, while another 30 came from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.

—Of the graduates who started at UW-Green Bay as new freshmen, 14 percent are graduating in less than four years; 52 percent began college 4 ½ years ago; 16 percent began 5 ½ years ago and 18 percent started at least six years ago.

—The potential December 2011 graduates have an average GPA of 3.22, while 18 percent have GPAs higher than 3.75.

—Business Administration is the most popular major for December undergraduate degree candidates, with 13 percent of potential grads earning degrees in that major. Other majors graduating 5 percent or more of students are: Interdisciplinary Studies (12 percent), Nursing (9 percent), Human Biology (7 percent), Psychology (7 percent), Elementary Education (5 percent), Human Development (5 percent) and History (5 percent).

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