Southern Arkansas University’s Spring Commencement ceremonies are scheduled for Friday, May 5, 2017. A total of 722 candidates for graduation will be recognized in four ceremonies at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center.
The Department of Nursing will honor 49 nursing candidates at 8:30 a.m. Set to deliver the nursing graduation commencement speech is 2016 SAU alum Kyle M. Herren, who is an RN at the Emergency Department of the Medical Center of South Arkansas.
Following will be the first undergraduate ceremony at 10:30 a.m., which will consist of candidates from the Rankin College of Business and the College of Science and Engineering. The second undergraduate ceremony will be at 2 p.m., and will be for candidates from the College of Education and the College of Liberal and Performing Arts.
The commencement speaker for the two undergraduate ceremonies will be The Honorable Leanne Johnson, a 1983 honor graduate from SAU. She graduated with high honors from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1986. In 2013, she was appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry to serve as a Justice on the Ninth Court of Appeals. The following year she was elected to the Court by the voters. She was the first woman to serve on the Ninth Court of Appeals in the history of the court. A total of 314 undergraduates, aside from the nursing candidates, are scheduled to graduate from SAU’s four colleges.
The graduate ceremony is scheduled for 5 p.m. The graduate commencement speaker will be Magnolia Public School District faculty member Larry Dunn, 2007 and 2010 SAU graduate and recipient of the Distinguished Young Alumnus award in 2016. A total of 359 graduate candidates will be earning their Masters degrees.
Livestreaming of each of the four graduation ceremonies will be available on SAU’s Facebook page and at www.saumag.edu/graduation for family and friends who are not able to attend in person.
Below is the schedule of events for Friday, May 5, 2017:
7:30 a.m. Nursing graduation candidates report to W.T. Watson auxiliary gym
8 a.m. Nursing faculty report to the W.T. Watson hallway near the faculty offices
8:30 a.m. Nursing Commencement, followed by a reception in Reynolds Center Grand Hall
9:30 a.m. Undergraduate candidates (RCB/CoSE) report to the W.T. Watson auxiliary gym
10 a.m. Faculty for RCB/CoSE ceremony report to the W.T. Watson hallway near the faculty offices
10:30 a.m. RCB/CoSE Undergraduate Commencement in W.T. Watson
1 p.m. Undergraduate candidates (CoE/CoLPA) report to W.T. Watson auxiliary gym
1:30 p.m. Faculty for CoE/ CoLPA ceremony report to the W.T. Watson hallway near the faculty offices
2 p.m. CoE/CoLPA Undergraduate Commencement in W.T. Watson
4 p.m. School of Graduate Studies candidates report to W.T. Watson auxiliary gym
4:30 p.m. Graduate faculty report to room to the W.T. Watson hallway near the faculty offices
5 p.m. School of Graduate Studies Commencement in W.T. Watson
