Georgian Court to Hold 103rd Commencement Ceremonies May 21-22

Mayor Thomas F. Kelaher, Toms River, set to receive honorary degree

 Lakewood, N.J., May. 19, 2014—More than 500 students will graduate from Georgian Court University during the school’s 103rd Commencement exercises Wednesday, May 21, and Thursday, May 22, on its historic Lakewood campus.

Georgian Court’s two-day celebration begins with graduate commencement at 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, where Tracey Severns, Ed. D., Chief Academic Officer of the New Jersey Department of Education is the featured speaker. She is a dedicated educator who has worked with children of all ages and ability levels, and Dr. Severns’s commitment to the improvement of public education in New Jersey is distinguished. The university will award honorary degrees to Dr. Severns as well as the Honorable Thomas F. Kelaher, mayor of Toms River. More than 200 master’s degrees will be awarded to GCU students in programs such as theology, education, applied behavior analysis, holistic health, and several other fields.

Thursday’s ceremony begins with a Baccalaureate Mass at 10:30 a.m. Later, during the undergraduate commencement at 2:00 p.m., the university will award more than 300 bachelor’s degrees as students hear from Maryann Cusimano Love, Ph. D., who is on the international relations faculty at The Catholic University of America and also teaches at the Pentagon.

Dr. Love, an expert in foreign policy, civil society, globalization and peace-building, and entrepreneur Francis "Finn" Wentworth, Jr., a philanthropist and community improvement activist, will be awarded honorary degrees. Georgian Court will also be celebrating the close of its first year as a fully coeducational university.

Speaking on behalf of the students during the May 21 graduate ceremony will be Rose A. Zollner ’13, a Master of Business Administration graduate who works in the finance industry. The student speaker for the May 22 undergraduate ceremony will be business major Caitlin Michele Murphy ’14, president of the Student Government Association Executive Board.