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UD, Wilberforce begin commencement season

Dayton to confer a record number of degrees today and Sunday.

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By Dave Larsen, Staff Writer 10:21 PM Friday, May 1, 2009

The University of Dayton will graduate a record 1,770 undergraduate and graduate students this weekend, making separate commencement ceremonies today, May 2, and Sunday the largest in UD history.

Dayton’s ceremonies are highlighted by the first graduates from its doctor of physical therapy program created in 2006 with $1.4 million in assistance from the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.

The program, which offers the area’s only advanced degree in physical therapy, will graduate 20 students today at UD Arena. Of the 12 graduates who will remain in Ohio, 10 will work in the Dayton area, UD officials said.

Thousands of students from Dayton-area colleges and universities will receive diplomas in the coming weeks.

Here is a calendar of ceremonies:

• Today: UD honors 324 post-graduate students at 9:45 a.m. Most of the advanced degrees are from the School of Education and Allied Professions.

Cedarville University will confer approximately 650 graduate and undergraduate degrees beginning at 10 a.m. at Doden Field House. Mark Bailey, president of the Dallas Theological Seminary, is the keynote speaker.

Wilberforce University will award 190 diplomas at 2 p.m. in the Alumni Multiplex Lewis Arena. Leonard L. Haynes III, executive director of the White House Initiative of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, is the keynote speaker.

Kettering College of Medical Arts will confer degrees and certificates on 234 students at 8 p.m. at the Dayton Convention Center. Karl Haffner, senior pastor at Kettering Seventh-day Adventist Church, is the keynote speaker.

• Sunday, May 3: UD will award 1,418 undergraduate diplomas at 9:45 a.m. at UD Arena. The top undergraduate majors are communication, marketing and psychology. Emi Hurlburt, student body president, will deliver a commencement address.

• May 9: Central State University in Wilberforce will honor 224 graduates at 10 a.m. in McPherson Stadium. More than 25 percent of the graduates will receive a bachelor’s in business administration. Former Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, a CSU alumnus and a senior vice president at Ohio State University, is the keynote speaker.

Miami University-Oxford will award 3,217 graduate and undergraduate degrees at 2 p.m. in Yager Stadium. U.S. Reps. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Steve Driehaus, D-Ohio, both alumni, will address graduates of the Bicentennial Class of 2009.

• May 16: Wittenberg University in Springfield will honor 426 students at 1 p.m. in Commencement Hollow. Time magazine Managing Editor Richard Stengel is keynote speaker.

• June 12: Sinclair Community College will present approximately 1,600 students with associate degrees at 6:45 p.m. at UD Arena.

• June 13: Wright State University will honor approximately 2,207 winter and spring quarter graduates at 10 a.m. at the Ervin J. Nutter Center. WSU will confer 1,486 bachelor’s, 656 master’s, 34 associate degrees and 31 doctorates.

• June 28: Antioch University McGregor will hold its commencement at 2 p.m. at the Schuster Performing Arts Center.

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