Stetson Awarding Degrees to 570 Students at Saturday’s Commencement

Stetson University will award degrees to 570 students during two Spring Commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 7. The ceremony for students earning degrees through the College of Arts & Sciences will be at 9:30 a.m., and the ceremony for students in the School of Business Administration and School of Music will be at 1:30 p.m., both in the Edmunds Center, 143 E. Pennsylvania Ave.

President Wendy B. Libby will give the “charge” at both ceremonies – a tradition where the president places a duty and responsibility upon the graduates. She will confer the degrees for 159 students who will receive graduate degrees and 411 undergraduates who will receive bachelor’s degrees.

Student speakers at the ceremonies are Caitlin Peterson of Ocala, Fla., representing the College of Arts & Sciences; Jason Reese of Telford, Tenn., representing the School of Business Administration; and Maxwell Grossman of Wellington, Fla., representing the School of Music.

Peterson is graduating from the Honors Program with a major in biology and minor in environmental science. A district finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship, she has done extensive research and studied far and wide during her Stetson years – in Kenya, Alaska, Guatemala, Spain and Sanibel, Florida. A co-founder of Hatter Harvest and member of the Women’s Soccer team, she was named Stetson Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2010.

A marketing major, Reese has been active in community outreach through his fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi, and as vice president for Stetson Habitat for Humanity. He was Mr. Greenfeather in 2010, served on the NightCap staff for two years, and was a brother in the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity. During college, he worked part-time in marketing for Fleishel Financial Associates, Raymond James.

Grossman is a conductor and pianist majoring piano performance. In November, he won first place in the Tampa Bay Symphony Young Artist Competition for piano and, in April, he performed twice with the symphony. Recipient of the prestigious Presser Scholar Award in his junior year, he is president of the School of Music’s Student Advisory Council and a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society and Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.

Commencement for the College of Law will be held Saturday, May 14, in Gulfport, with Yale Law School Professor Jules Coleman and retired Delaware Supreme Court Justice Andrew G.T. Moore II addressing the class. The College of Law has 259 graduates this spring.