Bowling Green State University’s May commencement ceremonies, the 270th graduation at the university,
represent both a beginning and an end.
For graduates, it is the first step in the next stage of their lives. For the university, the last time
commencement will be held in Anderson Arena. December’s graduates will receive their diplomas in the new
Stroh Center.
Of the 1,958 degrees to be awarded Friday and Saturday, 374 will be granted through the graduate college;
430 undergraduate students will graduate with honors.
Four separate ceremonies are planned.
Speakers are biochemist Dr. Lee Kroos of Michigan State University; Dr. Conrad Allen, an exploration
geologist who has served in several national posts; graduating senior David Cullen of Sandusky;
graduating senior Stephanie Winner of New Bremen; SSgt. Joshua Falso, an active duty computer and
network technician for the Air Force; and Dr. Kathryn Metz, an ethnomusicologist, educator and community
activist.
Graduate college commencement will be at 7 p.m. Friday. Speaking will be 1981 alumnus Kroos, a professor
of biochemistry and molecular biology. His research on signaling and gene regulatory mechanisms during
bacterial development has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and by the National
Science Foundation.
The College of Arts and Sciences commencement will be the first of three ceremonies on Saturday,
beginning at 9:30 a.m. Degree candidates will hear from Allen, whose oil exploration for major oil
companies has taken him around the world, from the Congo to Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Far East
Russia. Saudi Arabia hired him to find the largest oil field on earth. During the Clinton and G.W. Bush
administrations, he was appointed to the National Petroleum Council where his expertise helped shape
America’s national energy policy.
The colleges of Business Administration, Health and Human Services, and Technology will hold ceremonies
at 1 p.m.
Sharing his BGSU experience with the business college will be Cullen, a bachelor of science in business
administration degree candidate specializing in marketing. A member of the Honors Program, he was in the
first cohort of the BizX Entrepreneurial Leaders Program, and is the chief financial officer and a
founding member of the humanitarian business association Net Impact. He has taken second and first place
in consecutive years at Xavier University’s annual Business Simulation Competition.
Winner will address degree candidates in the College of Health and Human Services. A bachelor of science
in communication sciences and disorders candidate, she has been an active member of the National Student
Speech Language and Hearing Association and has studied autism spectrum disorders.
Degree candidates in the College of Technology will hear from Falso, who transferred to BGSU in the fall
of 2009 from the Community College of the Air Force through the College of Technology’s membership in
the Air University Associate to Baccalaureate Consortium. As a bachelor of science in technology
candidate in the Advanced Technological Education program, Falso has attended BGSU online from various
states and countries including Germany and Iraq.
Speaking at the 4:30 p.m. ceremonies for the College of Education and Human Development and College of
Musical Arts will be Metz, who focuses on connecting music education to social justice. She is the
education instructor at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, where she teaches core subject areas
using popular music to at-risk students on-site and others through distance learning. She also teaches
students at Case Western Reserve University and researches popular music in the urban Amazon of Peru.
The ceremony at BGSU Firelands will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Cedar Point Center. Richard Smith,
an alumnus and longtime supporter and advocate of Firelands, will deliver the address.
