Wildcats to take on the world
More than 2,900 students will participate in commencement ceremonies in Manhattan and Salina this month. The class of 2008 is the 141st to graduate from K-State since the first class graduated in 1867.
Commencement for K-State at Salina will be Saturday, May 10, at the Kansas Highway Patrol Training Center Administration Building J, 2025 East Iron Ave., Salina.
Ceremonies in Manhattan Friday, May 16, will be at 1 p.m. in Bramlage Coliseum for the Graduate School, and at 3:30 p.m. in McCain Auditorium for the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Ceremonies, all in Manhattan, Saturday, May 17:
* College of Arts and Sciences, 8:30 a.m., Bramlage Coliseum.
* College of Architecture, Planning and Design, 10 a.m., McCain Auditorium.
* College of Education, 11 a.m., Bramlage Coliseum.
* College of Business Administration, 12:30 p.m., Bramlage.
* College of Agriculture, 2:15 p.m., Bramlage.
* College of Human Ecology, 4:15 p.m., Bramlage.
* College of Engineering, 6:15 p.m., Bramlage.
Degrees to be presented include more than 2,280 bachelor's degrees; more than 420 master's degrees and 50 doctorates; and more than 40 associate degrees. Nearly 80 students will receive multiple degrees, while more than 100 students are earning their degrees through a K-State distance education program.
Videotapes of the ceremonies may be ordered through the K-State Student Union Bookstore, 1-800-KSU-CATS or 785-532-6583. Tapes must be paid for at the time of purchase. For distance education students unable to attend their on-campus ceremony, a virtual commencement ceremony is available at http://www.dce.ksu.edu/commencement/
Commencement speakers, by college, include:
* U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback for the College of Agriculture. Brownback, born in Parker,was student body president at K-State. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994. In 1996 he was elected to succeed Bob Dole in the Senate.
* Constance Ramos, designer and host of HGTV's "Color Correction," for the College of Architecture, Planning and Design. Ramos, born in Kansas City, Mo., is an alum of K-State's architecture program. In addition to creating design work, Ramos has been an actor and a host of TV's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
* Kent Glasscock for the College of Arts and Sciences. Glasscock, Manhattan, is president of the National Institute for Strategic Technology Acquisition and Commercialization. Glasscock received a bachelor's degree in English from K-State. From 1990 to 2003 he represented the 62nd District and was the speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives from 2001 to 2003.
* Dan Deines, professor of accounting, for the College of Business Administration. Deines is dedicated to recruiting students into accounting careers. He has developed and implemented a recruitment program aimed at counteracting negative stereotypes among high school students about the field of accounting.
* Robert Shannon, superintendent for USD 383 Manhattan-Ogden, for the College of Education. Shannon, who earned his doctorate in educational administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been a school administrator since 1978. He joined the Manhattan-Ogden district in 2005.
* Stephen Morris, president of the Kansas Senate, for the College of Engineering. Morris, whose first term in the Senate was 1993, chairs the interstate cooperation committee and the joint committee on legislative coordination. In addition to the agriculture and ways and means committees, he serves on the state building construction committee.
* Debra W. Stewart for the Graduate School. Stewart has been president of the the Council of Graduate Schools since 2000; before that she was vice chancellor and dean of the graduate school at North Carolina State University.
* Evan Grier, president of the College of Human Ecology alumni board, for the college. Grier, of Manhattan, is a 2002 K-State graduate and the owner, with wife Andrea, of Harry's restaurant.
* Bill Meredith, director of the School of Family Studies and Human Services, for K-State at Salina. Meredith, a native of Lincoln, is a specialist in issues of family violence, family relationships in Asian cultures, and adolescence. He joined K-State in 1999.
* Billy Collins, former poet laureate of the United States, will read three poems for the College of Veterinary Medicine, and Dan Thomson, assistant professor of clinical sciences and the Jones Professor of Production Medicine, will address the graduates.
Photo: A relieved graduate puts her feelings in writing during the 2005 commencement ceremony in Bramlage Coliseum. Photo by Dan Donnert, K-State Photo Services