On Saturday, May 13 at 10:30 a.m., Ferrum
College’s 180 men and women will graduate Ferrum College in a commencement
ceremony led by Dr. Jennifer L. Braaten, who is presiding over her
fourth graduation as Ferrum’s 10th president. Commencement 2006 will
take place on the front lawn. Baccalaureate will be held in Vaughn
Chapel on Friday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m.
The Honorable Thomas
R. Morris, Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia
will deliver the commencement keynote address. Dr. Morris began serving
as Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia in the
Administration of Governor Tim Kaine on January 15, 2006. Prior to
his appointment within the Governor’s Cabinet, Secretary Morris served
as the 19th president of Emory & Henry College for 13 ½ years.
A distinguished Constitutional scholar and political scientist, he
was a full-time faculty member at the University of Richmond for 21
years. He is well known on a state and national level as an astute
political commentator and writer.
Student awards to be announced at the event
include the James T. Catlin, Jr., Citizenship Award, the Arthur S.
Owens Leadership Award, and the Senior Academic Excellence Award.
The Exemplary Faculty Award and the Cheatham Fellowship will be given
to faculty and the Beckham Medallion, Ferrum’s highest alumni honor,
will also be presented.
Following the event, graduates will process
through two rows of faculty and staff, who will wish them well on
their continuing journey. This tradition parallels the students’ experience
as freshman, when they were welcomed in the same fashion.
The Ferrum College campus will be abuzz with
the landmark construction and renovation projects that began last
year. Work on the historical icons Beckham and Roberts Hall, the Franklin
Hall student center (to include a new alumni conference center) and
a new apartment-style dorm in the center of campus, will be evident
just down campus from the Commencement exercises. These ambitious
construction projects will result in new and improved facilities across
campus in the first such comprehensive enhancement of multiple areas
of campus since the 1960’s. You
can find more information and photos at the FerrumPLUS website here.
Also, click here to view photos and video
of the opening of the new dorm.
Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational,
liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
Ferrum offers a choice of nationally recognized bachelor’s degree
programs at a cost well below the national average for private colleges.
For more information on Ferrum, visit www.ferrum.edu.
