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University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
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Nearly 1,400 to receive diplomas May 12 at UW Oshkosh
Campus to honor America’s first female astronaut candidates
OSHKOSH – Two U.S. congressmen and two state officials will be on hand to see hundreds of students graduate and the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh pay tribute to 13 pioneering women at 133rd Spring Commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 12.
U.S. Reps. Steve Kagen and Tom Petri, along with Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton and State Sen. Carol Roessler, will participate in the ceremonies.
At morning and afternoon ceremonies, honorary doctorates will be awarded to the Mercury 13, a group of top American women pilots trained in secret in the 1960s to become astronauts but never allowed to fly in space because of the prejudices of the time.
Eight of the women will attend the ceremonies. There’s more information on the Mercury 13 and activities connected with a two-day, UW Oshkosh tribute to them at http://www.uwosh.edu/mercury13/.
Chancellor Richard H. Wells will confer nearly 1,400 diplomas to undergraduate and graduate students at the ceremonies at Kolf Sports Center, 785 High Ave.
The 9 a.m. ceremony will be for undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Letters and Science. A 2 p.m. ceremony will include students in the colleges of business administration, education and human services, and nursing.
Student speakers at the ceremonies will be:
· 9 a.m., Joel Stepanek, Oshkosh, who will receive a bachelor’s degree in religious studies. Stepanek, a youth volunteer at a local church throughout his college career, said the experience “has been invaluable in understanding and relating to people. Without this, my college experience would have not have been the same.”
· 2 p.m., Ashley Robinson, Sheldon, who will receive a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. An elementary school ESL volunteer and a teacher of the mentally disabled at a local church during her years at UW Oshkosh, Robinson said she overcame her own doubts and the doubts of others to succeed in college.
(The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh has grown since its founding in 1871 to become the third largest university in Wisconsin. With a fulltime enrollment of more than 12,400 (11,000 on campus) students, the university offers 73 associate, baccalaureate and master’s degree programs in the colleges of Business Administration, Education and Human Services, Letters and Sciences and Nursing. UW Oshkosh, an educational and cultural anchor that had a $501-million impact on the New North region in 2005-2006, serves as an economic engine for 1.2 million citizens of northeastern Wisconsin.)
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UW Oshkosh media releases are available on the Internet at
http://www.uwosh.edu/news_bureau/releases/webnews.php