FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Undergraduate and Graduate students are beginning their farewells to campus as they prepare for graduation. The All University Commencement and six undergraduate commencements will be held on May 12, the law school commencement ceremony will be on May 19. Each ceremony will feature its own commencement speaker, or in some cases, speakers.
The All University Commencement ceremony will be held at Bud Walton Arena and begin at 8:45 a.m. Alice Walton, business woman, community leader and philanthropist, will receive and honorary Doctor of Arts and Humane Letters degree as well as deliver the commencement address. Walton is being honored for her charitable works that have impacted the lives of many.
The Sam M. Walton College of Business will hold its commencement ceremony in Barnhill Arena at 12:30 p.m. Lee Bodenhamer, an alumnus and president of Centennial Consulting Co. in Little Rock will deliver the commencement address.
The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences commencement ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena. As is customary with Fulbright College the commencement address will be delivered by a student. This year’s speaker is Julia Lyon, one of the main organizers of the nationally recognized Full Circle Campus Food Pantry.
The Fay Jones School of Architecture will hold its commencement in the Verizon Ballroom of the Arkansas Union, beginning at 1 p.m. Ms. W. Chris Hinton-Lee, the first black woman to graduate with a degree in architecture from the University of Arkansas will deliver the commencement address.
The commencement ceremony for the College of Engineering will be held in Barnhill Arena at 3:30 p.m. University of Arkansas chancellor emeritus John A. White Jr. will deliver the commencement address.
The College of Education and Health Professions will hold its commencement ceremony in Bud Walton Arena at 4 p.m. Former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige will deliver the commencement address. Paige served under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, spearheading the implementation of the “No Child Left Behind” Act, with the goal of re-invigorating America’s education system.
The Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences commencement will be held at Barnhill Arena at 6:30 p.m. The commencement speakers will be Pamela S. Mortensen, the college’s Outstanding Alumna; Donald C. Lee, the Outstanding Young Alumnus; and Julia Korman, the First Ranked Student Scholar.
The School of Law commencement will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 19, in the Fayetteville Town Center. Jeffrey J. Gearhart, executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will deliver the commencement address. Gearhart is currently a member of the American Bar Association, Arkansas Bar Association and the Association of General Counsel, and is a member of the board of many local and national organizations.