Record day, 40th anniversary for May 2010 commencement

Chancellor Thomas K. Harden will preside at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s 2010 spring commencement ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 15, in the Kress Events Center on campus.

A near-capacity crowd of about 5,000 is expected for the ticket-only event. The 825 or so students eligible to graduate represent a UW-Green Bay record. About 675 of those students have pre-registered to participate in the formal cap-and-gown ceremony.

The event marks 40 years since the first UW-Green Bay commencement, when 78 pioneering graduates received diplomas on June 1, 1970. The total number of UW-Green Bay alumni will surpass 27,000 with this spring’s ceremony.

Ceremony highlights:

• Commencement speaker — Steven A. Taylor, a 1979 Business Administration graduate, will deliver the commencement address. Taylor is based in De Pere as a financial representative for the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. His contributions to campus and community are significant. He volunteers as a career mentor for current UW-Green Bay students, supports the Phoenix Fund and intercollegiate athletics, and serves on the boards of the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, Inc., Golden House, Northeastern Wisconsin Technical College Educational Foundation, Inc., and the National Railroad Museum.
• Outstanding senior and student speaker —Nicholas J. Vlies of Green Bay is May 2010 recipient of the Outstanding Student Award as selected by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Alumni Association. He has also been chosen to speak on behalf of the graduating class. Vlies graduates with summa cum laude (highest) honors, a near-perfect grade point average and distinction in the major. He has three majors — Public Administration, Environmental Policy and Planning, and Political Science — and a minor in Environmental Science.
• Chancellor’s Award recipient — Paul Kendle of Green Bay will receive the award, UW-Green Bay’s highest community honor, in recognition of his sustained commitment to advancing the University and the region it serves. Kendle is market president for Wells Fargo Bank’s locations in Northeast Wisconsin. He is a past chairman of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, a former president of the Green Bay Rotary Club and countywide campaign chair for the United Way. At UW-Green Bay, Kendle has been a strong advocate for public higher education, an adviser to institutional administration, and a leader in generating additional scholarship dollars for students.

Fields of study with the largest number of graduating seniors this May include business administration, education, human biology, human development, interdisciplinary studies and psychology.

The graduating class of roughly 825 students also includes 43 listed as eligible to receive UW-Green Bay graduate degrees. Seventeen will receive their Master’s in Applied Leadership for Teaching and Learning; fifteen will receive master’s degree in Social Work; six in Environmental Science and Policy; and five will receive Master’s of Management degrees.

UW-Green Bay celebrate the diversity of its student body at commencement, with flags representing the nations of origin designated by this semester’s graduates displayed as part of the opening processional. Along with residents of the United States, this May’s class includes citizens of France, Mexico, Nepal, the Russian Federation, and the nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Also displayed will be the flags of sovereign American Indian nations: Lac du Flambeau Chippewa, Lakota Sioux, Menominee, Oneida and Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican.

The bearer of the ceremonial mace will be economics Prof. Ismail Shariff, who as a founding faculty member in 1967 is the institution’s senior faculty member in terms of service. Student vocalists on the program are Kimberly Eickert, who will accompany the UW-Green Bay band directed by Prof. Kevin Collins on “The Star-Spangled Banner”; and Tessa Wegenke, who will sing the Alma Mater. Both Eickert and Wegenke are graduating seniors.