Fall 2007 commencement was celebrated at Penn State Greater Allegheny on Thursday, December 20 in Wunderely Gymnasium. Chancellor Curtiss E. Porter presided. Baccalaureate and associate degrees were conferred upon 40 students.
Student marshals for the campus baccalaureate degrees were Mark Ament (Business), Amanda Shaw (Communication), Keith Doggrell (Information Sciences & Technology), and Tiffany Ball (Applied Psychology). Student marshals carry the highest GPA of all attending graduates within that degree program.
Several students also were honored with Academic Excellence Awards: Mark J. Ament, Lauren E. Carpenter, Steven J. Horhut, and Katherine A. McFarland. These awards are given to students achieving a cumulative GPA of 3.60 or higher who have attended Penn State Greater Allegheny for four or more semesters and who attend the graduation ceremony.
Dr. Jay Breckenridge, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, served as campus marshal. Dr. Breckenridge has 36 years of service to the University. Program Marshals included Dr. Michelle Hough, Assistant Professor of Business Administration; Dr. Delia Conti, Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences; Galen Grimes, Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), and Dr. Margaret L. Signorella, Director of Academic Affairs and Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies.
The keynote speaker was Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce president, Barbara A. McNees, who has served the organization, an affiliate of the Allegheny Conference of Community Development, since 1997. The Chamber represents more than 500 businesses with more than one million employees across a 10-county area. Under her leadership, the Chamber has sharpened its focus on the innovation behind the Pittsburgh economy and broadened the voice of the Chamber membership in Harrisburg and Washington, DC.
At the close of the ceremony, Dr. Signorella, who is returning to the faculty full-time in Spring 2008, was honored for her seven years service as Director of Academic Affairs. She was presented with a painting by a Haitian artist, in recognition of her contributions to the campus international initiatives.