PHOTO CAPTION: Dr. Glenn Bernet, dean of the university, leads the processional carrying the university mace. This year’s event will be held Friday, May 4, at 9:30 a.m., at James River Assembly in Ozark, Mo.
PHOTO BY: Andrew Grumke
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Evangel University’s graduation week celebration will conclude with the 54th annual commencement ceremony on Friday morning, May 4. This year, 465 students will graduate, including 87 with master’s degrees.
• On Wednesday at 7 p.m., the graduate & professional studies baccalaureate, awards and honors day ceremony will be held in the Evangel Chapel Auditorium. The speaker will be President Robert H. Spence.
• On Thursday at 3 p.m., the traditional baccalaureate, awards and honors day ceremony will be held in the Evangel Chapel Auditorium.
Immediately following each of the baccalaureate ceremonies, a reception for parents and graduates will be held in Crusader Hall. The graduates will have an opportunity to introduce family members to President Spence, the administrators and their favorite professors.
Jonathan D. Sites of Springfield, Mo., was selected by his peers to be the baccalaureate speaker for the undergraduate ceremony. Sites will graduate with a double major in biblical studies and English with a concentration in biblical languages.
Sites will be recognized during the ceremony as the Outstanding Graduate for the Department of Theology.
Sites is the son of Douglas and Cynthia Sites of Springfield, Mo. He is a 2007 graduate of Glendale High School.
• On Friday at 9:30 a.m., the graduation ceremony will be held in the James River Assembly of God auditorium, located just off Hwy. 65, south of Springfield.
“Everyone is encouraged to allow at least 45 minutes to get through the traffic,” said Paul K. Logsdon, spokesman for the university. “Nearly 4,000 family and friends will be present to experience this celebration of their students’ accomplishments.”
Commencement Speaker
Dr. David W. Clark, retired president of Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, will serve as the commencement speaker. As a member of Evangel’s class of 1962, he will be celebrating his own 50th anniversary as a graduate.
Clark earned a B.A. from Evangel and has since been honored with EU’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1983 and with the Evangel Social Science Department’s Regius Award in 1998. He holds an M.Div. from Northern Baptist Seminary as well as an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.