TRI-CITIES, Wash. — WSU Tri-Cities will honor its 17th graduating class Friday, May 12, at the Toyota Center (formerly the Tri-Cities Coliseum) in Kennewick. The program begins at 6 p.m.
A total of 325 students will receive diplomas this year. There are 241 undergraduate and 84 master’s degree candidates eligible to participate in the 2006 Commencement.
Chancellor David Lemak will preside over the program, which includes a commencement address by Francois X. Forgette, WSU regent and well-known Tri-Cities attorney.
Nearly 3,000 are expected to attend the ceremony. The Toyota Center is located near Columbia Center in Kennewick.
The graduating students earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the state’s land-grant university in a variety of academic disciplines, including biology, business administration, chemical engineering, computer science, elementary education, history, psychology, nursing and social science.
New to the pageantry of commencement this year is the first use of colorful banners, called gonfalons, which signify the university’s colleges. Each banner is in the colors traditionally associated with their discipline. The gonfalons will lead the processional and each is carried by a student selected by their college for the honor.
Rob Ellsworth, director of the Tri-Cities District of the WSU Alumni Association, will deliver the alumni greeting to the new graduates.
