AMES, Iowa -- Nearly 3,800 students are completing degrees at Iowa State University at the conclusion of spring semester and many of them will celebrate the accomplishment at a graduation ceremony this weekend.
Graduate commencement
An anticipated 157 Ph.D. students and 407 master's students will be honored during the graduate ceremony, which begins at 8 p.m. Friday, May 4, in Hilton Coliseum. Professor of Accounting Labh Hira will address the graduates. Hira, who planned to resign June 30 from his position as dean of the College of Business, did so a few months early when he was asked to serve as interim president of the ISU Foundation in March.
Veterinary medicine ceremony
At noon Saturday, May 5, in Stephens Auditorium, 144 veterinary medicine students will receive their Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine diplomas. The graduates include 22 University of Nebraska students who completed their last two years at Iowa State. Dr. Nick Trout will give the commencement address. Trout is a surgeon at the Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, a contributing columnist for The Bark magazine and author of three best-selling books, "Tell Me Where It Hurts," "Love is the Best Medicine" and "Ever By My Side."
Undergraduate commencement
And at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Hilton, an estimated 3,079 undergraduates will receive bachelor's degrees. Craig Lang of Brooklyn, an Iowa State alumnus and recently re-elected president of the Iowa Board of Regents will give the commencement address.
Tickets are not needed for any of the ceremonies. Live stream of master's and Ph.D. commencement will begin at 8 p.m. Friday night. Live stream of the undergraduate ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Details are online.
Honorary degrees
Gianola is a professor in three departments at the University of Wisconsin, Madison: animal science, dairy science and biostatistics and medical informatics. Twenty years ago, he introduced a statistics method that greatly improved the analysis of animal breeding. His work in genetics and statistics builds on the foundation established at Iowa State by Jay Lush from 1930 to 1966.
Belitsos is the founder (1976) and chief executive officer of Ames-based Youth and Shelter Services. Today, YSS is funded by more than $14 million in grants and contracts and serves more than 7,000 young people - the homeless, youth with drug abuse problems, youth aging out of foster care, youth with chronic mental illness or severe behavior problems - at 20 service centers in central Iowa.
College events
Iowa State colleges will hold separate events May 4-5 to honor their own graduating students. A full schedule of commencement events is online.