Northern Kentucky University graduated more than 1600 students at its Spring Commencement on Sunday, May 7 at BB&T Arena.
The College of Education and Human Services, the College of Health Professions, and the College of Informatics held their commencement ceremony at 11 a.m. Graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Haile/US Bank College of Business held their ceremony at 4 p.m.
Thousands of people filled BB&T Arena to celebrate the students’ achievements and the culmination of an important chapter in their lives. This year’s commencement also marked the last official act by outgoing NKU President Geoffrey S. Mearns.
“Celebrating our students’ academic success is one of my great privileges as president. On behalf of the entire University community, I congratulate our graduates and look forward to sharing this special day with them, their families, and their friends. It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve as your president,” said Mearns.
Sunday Morning’s ceremony awarded nearly 700 degrees to graduates. One of the highlights of the ceremony was seeing the first class of the College of Informatics’ Data Science program receive their degrees. The program is designed to teach student how to manage the large quantities of data and information being generated daily. It emphasizes a well-rounded course load that includes mathematics, technology and business.
Brandi Mulligan addressed her peers as the student speaker representing the Teacher Education Department in the College of Education and Human Services. Mulligan is the co-founder of the Black and Brown Educators of Excellence to promote diversity in education.
Current NKU Board of Regents member Virginia Fox also spoke and received an Honorary Degree at the morning ceremony. Fox shared some valuable lessons with students and urged them to reach out and connect with others.
“Access everything you can that enlarges your capability and your knowledge base. And then give outreach to every person who needs what you know or who could give you more knowledge. I think access and outreach…those are the two words that have driven me probably more than anything,” said Fox. “Never stop learning. Never stop problem solving. Never stop being engaged.”
The Sunday afternoon ceremony honored nearly 850 graduates from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Haile/US Bank College of Business. Pamela Viscione served as student speaker, representing the Executive Leadership and Organizational Change program in the Haile/US Bank College of Business. Viscione has a successful career at Procter & Gamble and entered NKU as a non-traditional student. She encouraged her fellow students to live to their full potential and embrace the NKU experience.
Board of Regents Chair and NKU alumnus Rich Boehne addressed the afternoon gathering, sharing how his time at NKU help shape his extraordinary career.
“Everyone in (our) journalism classes at NKU, those were all hard working, entrepreneurial, blue collar, no-sense-of-privilege kind of students. It was just a fantastic environment. To me, the value of a high quality, affordable education… How do you go from where I was to chairman of a company in one generation? It was thanks to an affordable, high quality public education,” said Boehne.
Read more about Spring Commencement graduates here.
