Photo by Bob Elbert.
AMES, Iowa – An estimated 4,016 students are completing degrees at Iowa State this week. Many will celebrate their achievement with classmates, family and friends at three commencement ceremonies this weekend.
Graduate commencement
Master's and doctoral students – estimated at 425 and 104, respectively – will be honored during the Graduate College commencement at 8 p.m. Friday, May 9, in Hilton Coliseum. Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences Jonathan Wendel will address the graduates. Wendel is professor and chair of the ecology, evolution and organismal biology department. He was part of the international team that in 2012 mapped the cotton genome. He has received research, teaching and leadership awards at Iowa State.
Veterinary medicine commencement
At noon on Saturday, May 10, in Stephens Auditorium, the College of Veterinary Medicine anticipates conferring the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree on 147 candidates, including 22 Nebraska residents who completed their veterinary curriculum at Iowa State through a cooperative agreement with the University of Nebraska.
Alumnus Dr. Michael Riegger will address the graduates. Riegger serves as chief medical officer and senior clinician at the Northwest Animal Clinic and Hospital, Albuquerque, New Mexico. He currently teaches and hosts a course in the College of Veterinary Medicine on veterinary practice management, an area in which he is respected internationally.
Undergraduate commencement
An estimated 3,340 students will be honored for completing bachelor's degree programs at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Hilton Coliseum. Alumnus and Brig. Gen. Patrick Doherty, U.S. Air Force, will give the commencement address. Doherty serves as director of the $2 billion worldwide Air Force Services program, which coordinates needs as varied as Airman fitness, troop feeding, mortuary operations, entertainment, child development centers and family readiness programs. Doherty, a native of Bellevue, Nebraska, entered the Air Force through its ROTC program at Iowa State, where he completed a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering in 1987.
Tickets are not needed for any of the commencement ceremonies. For those unable to attend in person, the graduate and undergraduate ceremonies will be video streamed live on the ISU registrar's graduation website. Video replay of the two events will be available around May 16 for approximately a month.
And, before and after the undergrad commencement ceremony, graduates and guests are welcome to tweet messages of congratulations at #cyclONEgrad. All are welcome to follow the conversation on the Tagboard site. Postings will be shared on the Hilton video board, but not during the ceremony.
College and alumni events
The academic colleges also will honor their graduates during their own receptions and convocations Friday and Saturday. The ISU Alumni Association will host an open house for all graduating students and their families immediately following the undergraduate ceremony Saturday afternoon (approximately 4:30 p.m., ISU Alumni Center).
