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Appalachian Announces May Commencement Speakers

April 24, 2014. Appalachian State University’s spring commencement will be held May 9-11 with each of the university’s degree-granting colleges or schools holding individual ceremonies.

A total of 2,538 graduates and undergraduates have applied for graduation, including those completing degree requirements in August who have been invited to participate in the spring graduation.

Speakers range from two graduate student award winners and Latin-American women’s literature expert Magdalena Maiz-Pena to WBTV news co-anchor John Carter and Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock, who is stepping down from his administrative post at the end of June.

Friday, May 9

Ceremonies for the Cratis D. Williams Graduate School will be held Friday, May 9 at 6 p.m. at the Holmes Convocation Center. The ceremony will feature Alex Kirk, a clinical psychology major who won the People’s Choice Award at the 3-Minute Thesis competition sponsored by the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools in San Antonio, and Shannon Saville, a social work major who received the President’s Award from the N.C. Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Saturday, May 10

Ceremonies on Saturday, May 10 in the Holmes Convocation Center begin at 9 a.m. for graduates of the College of Heath Sciences. Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock will be the featured speaker.

Graduates of the Reich College of Education will be honored beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the Holmes Convocation Center. The guest speaker will be Darcy Grimes, 2012-13 N.C. Teacher of the Year. An Appalachian graduate, Grimes is an instructional technology facilitator at Bethel and Mabel elementary schools.

John Carter will speak to graduates of the College of Fine and Applied Arts at a ceremony in Holmes Convocation Center that begins at 4 p.m. An Appalachian graduate, Carter co-anchors WBTV News This Morning at WBTV News at Noon.

Sunday, May 11

Ceremonies on Sunday, May 11 begin at 9 a.m. for the College of Arts and Sciences in Holmes Convocation Center. Davidson College professor Magdalena Maiz-Pena will be the guest speaker. Maiz-Pena specializes in 20th and 21st Century Latin American women writers and contemporary Latin American literary and cultural narratives.

The ceremony for the Hayes School of Music graduates will be held in Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall beginning at 1 p.m. Dr. Will Schmid will be the featured speaker. Schmid is professor emeritus from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is involved in the National Association of Music Educators’ “Get America Singing…Again!” campaign and other initiatives to establish a common song repertoire and promote community singing and other initiatives to promote active music making in schools and as a lifelong pursuit.

Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock will speak to graduates of the Walker College of Business at 3:30 p.m. in the Holmes Convocation Center. Prior to being named Appalachian’s chancellor in 2004, he served 11 years as dean of the Walker College of Business.