IUP has announced details for this weekend’s commencement ceremonies for 2,334 students, starting with graduate student degrees to be conferred tomorrow night, and two ceremonies Saturday for undergraduate degree recipients.
IUP will award 1,815 bachelor’s degrees, 461 master’s degrees, 87 doctoral degrees, and four associate degrees. The College of Health & Human Services leads the way with 710 graduates.
The student speaker for the graduate degree program will be Ashley Jones of Duquesne. For the 9 AM ceremony on Saturday, it will be Victoria Jakicik of Pittsburgh, and for the 2 PM ceremony, it will be Bethany Balencic of Indiana, who is one of seven Indiana County residents to graduate with a perfect 4.0 grade point average, all of them graduates of Indiana Area High School.
The others are Natalie Cignetti, formerly of Indiana and now living in North Carolina; Neda Karimi of Indiana; Elizabeth King of Indiana; Robyn Nicewonger of Shelocta; Dana Piper of Indiana; and Priya Soundararajan of Indiana.
Three professors will be honored with the University Senate Distinguished Faculty Award. They are Dr. P. Michael Kosicek, Dr. Jeffrey Larkin, and Dr. R. Scott Moore. Also, Dr. Evelyn (Lynnann) Mocek, the executive staff assistant to the provost, will receive the University Senate Staff Service Award.
IUP President Michael Driscoll will preside over the weekend’s commencement ceremonies at the KCAC. The university’s Council of Trustees holds its spring meeting today.
