Penn State Behrend Announces Spring 2008 Commencement Details, Speakers, Marshals
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will hold its spring commencement on Saturday, May 17, beginning at noon in the Louis J. Tullio Arena, located at Eighth and French Streets in downtown Erie. Penn State Behrend will confer a total of 739 degrees for the 2007-08 academic year; 482 degrees—11 associate, 431 baccalaureate and 40 graduate—will be awarded at this spring’s ceremony and 257 degrees were conferred last fall. University-wide, Penn State is expected to graduate a total of 10,585 students.
Jeffrey K. Pinto, a professor of management and the Andrew Morrow and Elizabeth Lee Black Chair in Management Technology in the Sam and Irene Black School of Business at Penn State Behrend, will deliver the commencement address. Pinto’s research and consulting specialty is project management; he will share that expertise in an address titled “Managing Your Most Important Project.”
In addition, Kurt Buseck, chairman of the Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows, will offer remarks and John P. Surma, a member of the University’s Board of Trustees, will provide authorization to confer degrees.
This year’s four student marshals are:
- Danielle Nichole Brown, a communication and media studies major from Erie, for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Brown was an Evan Pugh Scholar during her junior and senior years and is graduating with highest distinction. She graduated from Harbor Creek High School.
- Lisa Michelle Brozewicz, a finance major from Wattsburg, for the Black School of Business. Brozewicz is graduating with highest distinction. She graduated from Seneca High School.
- Alicia Marie Klinvex, a computer science student from Glenshaw, Pa., for the School of Science. Klinvex is graduating as a Schreyer Scholar with an honors degree and was an Evan Pugh Scholar during her junior and senior years. She graduated from North Hills Senior High School.
- Joseph Woodrow Shaffer, a mechanical engineering student from Ridgway, Pa., for the School of Engineering. Shaffer was an Evan Pugh Scholar during his junior and senior years and is graduating with highest distinction. He graduated from Ridgway Area High School.
Evan Pugh Scholars are students who were in the upper 0.5 percent of their respective classes; the award is named for Penn State’s first president. Students who earn highest distinction are those graduating in the top 2 percent of their graduating class. The Schreyer Scholars program is Penn State’s University-wide Honors program. Students who have completed the requirements of the program, including an Honors thesis or comprehensive examination, receive Honors degrees.
Following the commencement program, all those in attendance are invited to attend a reception in honor of the graduates in the historic Warner Theatre.
Penn State Behrend moved its spring commencement ceremony to the Tullio Arena in 2006 to accommodate students’ request to invite an unlimited number of guests. The college’s fall commencement ceremony continues to be held on campus in the Junker Center.
About Jeffrey K. Pinto
Jeffrey K. Pinto is a professor of management and the Andrew Morrow and Elizabeth Lee Black Chair in Management Technology in the Sam and Irene Black School of Business at Penn State Behrend. He has written or edited 23 books and more than 120 scientific papers on project management, including Prentice-Hall’s best-selling book Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage. His latest book, titled Cost and Value Management in Projects, was published in February.
For six years, Pinto edited the journal Project Management. He also is a two-time recipient of the Project Management Institute’s Distinguished Contribution Award. This year, he is a nominee for the Institute’s Research Achievement Award, which recognizes the long-term contribution his work has made to the theory and practice of project management. He also is a past recipient of the Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows Research Award.
Pinto joined the Black School of Business faculty in 1994 after teaching at the University of Maine and the University of Cincinnati. He earned his doctorate in organization theory and an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh as well as bachelor’s degrees in history and business administration from the University of Maryland.
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is a comprehensive residential college offering 33 baccalaureate, six associate, four pre-professional and two graduate degree programs with 22 minors to more than 4,400 students. Focused on providing a student-centered environment, Penn State Behrend is the link that connects its students to a major research and land-grant institution on a campus enriched by more than 110 clubs and organizations, 21 NCAA varsity teams, 19 intramural sports and modern facilities. Penn State Behrend is named as such due to a donation by Mary Behrend, widow of Ernst Behrend, who founded the Hammermill Paper Co. in Erie in 1898. The Behrend family lived on the 400-acre Glenhill Farm, which is the core of the Penn State Behrend campus today. For more information, visit behrend.psu.edu.