The College will celebrate its 66th Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 22. The ceremony will take place outside at the Thomas J. Niland Jr. Athletic Complex on the Le Moyne campus, with approximately 550 students eligible to commence at the ceremony.
Timing for key elements of the ceremony is as follows: at 8 a.m. seating opens for the public; at 8:30 a.m. students can begin robing and lining up for the procession; at 9:10 a.m. the procession from upper to lower campus begins; and at 9:30 a.m. the ceremony starts. It is anticipated that the ceremony will end at approximately 12:30 p.m.
Graduating students, their families and friends will hear from speaker Jeanette Epps, Ph.D., a member of Le Moyne's class of 1992, who entered the astronaut program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration agency (NASA) in 2009.
A physics major at Le Moyne, Epps went on to earn a doctorate at the University of Maryland, where she worked on materials applications for rotor crafts and helicopters. Following graduation, she worked for two years at Ford Motor Company as a technical specialist in the Scientific Research Laboratory. While at Ford, she participated in research involving automobile collision location detection and countermeasure systems, which resulted in the granting of a U.S. Patent. In 2002, Epps joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where she spent more than seven years working as a technical intelligence officer. She was selected from more than 3,500 applicants to be one of 14 members of NASA's 2009 astronaut class.
"Jeanette embodies so many of the attributes of a Le Moyne graduate -- she's incredibly smart, successful, innovative and courageous," said Le Moyne President Linda LeMura. "Her compelling story will serve as an inspirational message to members of the class of 2016 and all who attend commencement. We are so grateful that she will be this year's speaker."
Dr. Epps will receive an honorary degree (Doctor of Humane Letters) at the ceremony, as will
Ahmad El-Hindi, chief executive officer of Filtertech, Inc. (Doctor of Humane Letters), John K. Purcell '65, senior advisor and board member of Lightower Fiber Networks (Doctor of Humane Letters), and Katherine M. Purcell '66, program administrator in the Golisano Children's Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center (Doctor of Humane Letters). The Purcells are the
namesake of the Purcell School of Professional Studies at Le Moyne.
The ceremony concludes a weekend of commencement activities at the College, including the graduate commencement ceremony on Friday, May 20, and several events taking place on Saturday, May 11 - the Senior Honors Convocation in the Panasci Family Chapel at 2:30 p.m. and the Baccalaureate Mass in the Henninger Athletic Center at 5 p.m.
For much more information about commencement
visit the commencement webpage here. If there are additional questions not answered on the site, contact the Le Moyne Student Development Division at 315-445-4527.