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Graduation season is here and area colleges and universities are deploying an impressive roster of commencement speakers. Students will hear from figures ranging from business leaders, state and local public officials, and esteemed scientists, and a trio of Catholic activists renowned for their humanitarian work and a former Notre Dame president.
Penn State Hazleton
Penn State Hazleton will hold its commencement ceremony 7 p.m. Friday in the Dr. Thomas M. Caccese Gymnasium in its Physical Education Building. Delivering the commencement address is physical chemist Jacob A. Spies. He’s a Penn State alumnus, the Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and the co-director of the California Interfacial Science Institute.
Penn State Wilkes-Barre
The Penn State Wilkes-Barre commencement will be held 10 a.m. Saturday in the campus’ Athletic & Recreation Building.
Alumnus Joseph Boylan will deliver the commencement address. He’s a portfolio director at Throughline, a design and strategy firm that works with many clients across commercial, government, military and nonprofit sectors. Boylan helped contribute to the Invent Penn State initiative and served as a member of the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus Advisory Board.
The commencement will also be broadcast live at wilkesbarre.psu.edu/streaming.
Misericordia University
Misericordia’s undergraduate commencement is 2 p.m. Saturday in the Anderson Center.
The ceremony honors three women who “exemplify the mission of mercy, justice, and service.”
Sister Catherine McGroarty will receive the Catherine McAuley Medal, the university’s highest honor, for her 18-year tenure on the Misericordia Board of Trustees, support for programs such as the Bourger Women with Children, and efforts at the Catherine McAuley House.
Sister Ana Maria Pineda will deliver an address at the undergraduate commencement ceremony. She is the former president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States and has worked as an advisor to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops where she “shaped national discourse on cultural inclusion and justice in the Church.”
Sister Mary Scullion will deliver a keynote address to the graduate commencement. She helped found Woman of Hope and Project HOME, the nationally celebrated organization in Philadelphia that provides critical care and resources to people who are homeless.
The university will broadcast the commencement on its YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/misericordiau.
King’s College
The King’s commencement ceremony is 1 p.m. May 16 at Mohegan Arena.
The Rev. John I. Jenkins — the president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame — will deliver the commencement’s keynote address. Jenkins was the president of Notre Dame from 2005 to 2024 and has worked in the Notre Dame Department of Philosophy since 1990.
The ceremony will be livestreamed at youtube.com/live/F0PLarIuA7k?feature=share.
Wilkes University
Wilkes will hold its commencement May 17 at the McHale Athletic Center, 169 S. Main St. The graduate-student ceremony begins at 10 a.m. and the undergraduate ceremony is 3 p.m.
David Hicks, the director of Wilkes’ nationally renowned Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing and state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-121, Wilkes-Barre, who graduated in the Wilkes class of 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in music, are the commencement speakers.
The university will broadcast the ceremony live at www.wilkes.edu/signature-events/commencement/live-stream.aspx.
Luzerne County Community College
Luzerne County Community College is holding its commencement 6 p.m. May 29 at Mohegan Arena. Luzerne Foundation President and CEO David Pedri will deliver the commencement’s keynote address.
A livestream of the ceremony will be available at www.youtube.com/LuzerneCCC.
