Indiana University of Pennsylvania's winter commencement ceremonies will take place Saturday, December 17.
The ceremony for graduate students will be at 9:30 a.m. in the IUP Performing Arts Center's Fisher Auditorium. The undergraduate ceremony will be at 1:00 p.m. in the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex.
Students completing degrees in December and January are invited to participate in the December commencement ceremonies. Students receiving a total of 752 degrees are eligible for the ceremony. Of this number, 533 are bachelor's degrees, 173 are master's degrees, and 46 are doctoral degrees.
A total of 212 of the undergraduate degree recipients are graduating with Latin honors (3.25 cumulative grade-point average or above).
The total number of graduates by college is: 139 from the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology; 59 from the College of Education and Educational Technology; 28 from the College of Fine Arts; 184 from the College of Health and Human Services; 47 from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences; 72 from the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and 219 from the School of Graduate Studies and Research.
Nicole Fidler, from Orwigsburg, graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science, will be the student speaker for the undergraduate ceremony. Fidler, daughter of Tracey and Al Fidler, and a 2013 graduate of Blue Mountain High School, was one of 12 students in the commonwealth to complete the Harrisburg Internship Semester, coordinated by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. She worked in the office of Speaker of the House Mike Turzai.
Erin Guydish, of Shickshinny, who is graduating with a doctorate in philosophy in English, Literature and Criticism, will be the graduate ceremony student speaker. Guydish is the daughter of Bette and Kenneth Ritchotte and Raymond Guydish. She is a 2006 graduate of Northwest Junior-Senior High School. She was recognized at IUP with an award for outstanding scholarship, is former president of the English Graduate Organization, is a Safe Zone member, and volunteers at the IUP Kathleen Jones White Writing Center.
A total of seven students will be recognized at the ceremony for achieving a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
David Downing, professor of English and IUP's 2016–17 Distinguished University Professor, will serve as the keynote speaker for both ceremonies. The Distinguished University Professorship is an annual award presented to an IUP faculty member based on outstanding teaching, research, and scholarly activity. Recipients retain the title for life.
During his tenure as Distinguished University Professor, Downing plans to work on two primary scholarly projects: he will design, produce, and implement an interactive, multimedia website to serve as a companion to his most recent book, Just Theory: An Alternative History of the Western Tradition, and he will work on completing his next book, University Uprising: A Diorama of Social Crises in Higher Education, 1798–2018.
Both ceremonies included greetings from the Alumni Association President John Ninosky, a 1993 IUP graduate.
More information about the commencement ceremonies is available on the Commencement website.