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Westminster College to Celebrate Commencement May 17

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Posted on Friday, May 9, 2014

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - More than 330 students are expected to earn degrees Saturday, May 17, at Westminster College's 160th commencement ceremonies.  A baccalaureate service will be held at 10:30 a.m. in Orr Auditorium with commencement at 2:30 p.m. on the Weisel Senior Terrace of Old Main.

The baccalaureate message will be given by the Rev. Scott W. Hoffman, pastor and head of staff at Christ Memorial Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Md.

The class of 2014 selected Joseph M. Ligo to give the senior address. A broadcast communications major, Ligo is a son of Jesse and Amy Ligo and a graduate of Mercer Area High School.

In case of rain, the commencement ceremony will be held in Memorial Field House.

Contact Gabriella Budai, executive secretary in the Office of Academic Affairs, at 724- 946-7122 for more information.

Dr. Thomas R. Kepple Jr. to Earn Honorary Degree

The commencement ceremony will include the conferring of an honorary degree, doctor of public service, honoris causa, to Dr. Thomas R. Kepple `70, president emeritus of Juniata  College. He will present "Leadership 101" during the ceremony.

Kepple earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Westminster, and a master's in business administration and doctorate in education from Syracuse University. He then served as vice president for business and community relations at Sewanee: University of the South and as provost and dean of academic services at Rhodes College, both in Tennessee. He was named president of Juniata in 1998.

Additional accomplishments include: Founding chair of the national Tuition Plan Consortium, vice chair of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's Higher Education Transition Team, and a variety of leadership positions in the Association for Independent Colleges of Pennsylvania and in the national Council for Independent Colleges. In 2013 he was named president of the American Academic Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C.

Westminster honored his professional accomplishments with an Outstanding Alumni Citation in 2001.