PULLMAN, Wash. — Commencement ceremonies for Washington State
University are set for Pullman, Spokane, the Tri-Cities and Vancouver.
Commencement speakers will include WSU President Samuel Smith; Christine
Gregoire, state attorney general; Kenneth Alhadeff, WSU regent, Seattle; and
John Fabian, former astronaut, Port Ludlow.
About 2,800 undergraduates are expected to take part in three graduation
ceremonies in Pullman on May 6. This academic year, WSU will award an
estimated 4,574 bachelor’s, 786 master’s and 161 doctoral degrees.
WSU President Samuel Smith, who retires at the end of June after 15 years in
office, will preside over the Pullman ceremonies, all held in the Beasley
Performing Arts Coliseum. He also will be the commencement speaker for the
Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver ceremonies.
In Pullman, Gregoire will speak at the 8 a.m. college of liberal arts ceremony.
Alhadeff, WSU regent, business leader and philanthropist, will address the
11:30 a.m. ceremony for the college of business and economics and the college
of education. Former research executive and astronaut Fabian speaks at the 3
p.m. ceremony for the colleges of engineering and architecture, pharmacy,
agriculture and home economics, sciences, nursing and veterinary medicine.
Alhadeff and Fabian are both WSU graduates.
The Pullman ceremonies will be video-streamed by WSU’s Educational
Telecommunications and Technology. The events may be accessed through
the WSU Web site, www.wsu.edu. Cable 8, on Pullman’s cable television
system, also will televise the ceremonies.
A 2 p.m. May 5 ceremony in the Spokane Opera House will honor 372
graduates who have earned their WSU degrees at WSU Spokane. Also
graduating will be 158 students receiving nursing degrees from the ICNE/WSU
College of Nursing and its consortium partners Eastern Washington
University, Gonzaga University and Whitworth College. In addition, 17 EWU
students earning master’s degrees in communication disorders, who have
studied in the joint WSU-EWU speech and hearing sciences program, will
receive their diplomas.
WSU Tri-Cities’ ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. May 12 in the Tri-Cities
Coliseum, Kennewick. About 200 students will be honored.
A total of 516 students will graduate in Vancouver after studying at WSU
Vancouver. The 1 p.m. May 13 ceremony will be held in the outdoor campus
plaza.
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