Commencement Exercises Set Saturday

The latest class of College of Communications students will participate in fall semester commencement exercises at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Undergraduate degree recipients from the College of Arts and Architecture, College of Communications, College of Education, College of Health and Human Development, College of the Liberal Arts, Eberly College of Science and School of Nursing will participate in the session.

An earlier session, beginning at 9 a.m. in the BJC, will be conducted for other University Park undergraduates.

More than 2,700 degrees will be conferred at the two events and the Graduate School ceremony at 4 p.m. in Eisenhower Auditorium. President Rodney Erickson will preside over all the sessions.

Overall, Penn State expects to award approximately 4,725 diplomas to students across the University. That includes 272 associate, 3,499 bachelor's, 720 master's, two medical, 13 law and 219 doctoral degrees. Through the end of summer 2011, Penn State had conferred a total of 682,318 degrees.

During the 12:30 p.m. undergraduate ceremony, the keynote speaker will be Gary Orfield, co-founder and director of The Civil Rights Project. He will be awarded an honorary degree as a doctor of humane letters.