Ohio Northern University will celebrate its 2009 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 24, 2009, at 2 p.m. in the Sports Center.

About 600 students will be awarded degrees.

Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher will address the graduating students as the guest speaker. Fisher has more than 16 years of public service, serving as Ohio attorney general, as a state senator and as a state representative. Prior to becoming lieutenant governor and state development director, Fisher served as the president and CEO of the Center for Families and Children in Cleveland for seven years. Fisher graduated from Oberlin College and earned both his law degree and his master's degree in nonprofit organization from Case Western Reserve University.

Meghan Davlin, graduating pharmacy student from Sandusky, Ohio, will serve as the student speaker.

Three Ohio Northern alumni will be awarded honorary degrees. Dr. Charles K. Alexander, who graduated in 1965 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, will receive an honorary doctorate of engineering. Alexander has taught at Ohio University, Temple University, California State University Northridge, Tennessee Technological University and Youngstown State University. He is currently managing director of the Wright Center for Sensor Systems and professor of electrical engineering at Cleveland State University (CSU) and was recently dean of CSU's Fenn College of Engineering.

Suzanne Eastman Wuest, who graduated in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in pharmacy, will receive an honorary doctorate of pharmacy. Wuest is the executive director of clinical services for Catalina Health Resources, a health care information services firm. She served as president of the Ohio Pharmacists Association from 1987-88, the first woman to do so. She was appointed to an eight-year term on the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy in 1999. Additionally, she serves on the ONU College of Pharmacy Advisory Board.

Robert L. Gronlund, who graduated in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in business, will receive an honorary doctorate of business administration. Gronlund has been employed by Wood-Mode Inc. in Kreamer, Pa., since 1966, and he is the current chairman and CEO. He has served on the Dean's Advisory Board in The James F. Dicke College of Business Administration. Gronlund and his wife are major contributors to the University, and the Gronlund Atrium in Dicke Hall recognizes Gronlund's loyalty to ONU.

A commencement chapel service will be held on Saturday in the English Chapel at 8:15 p.m.

Commencement day activities will begin Sunday at 9 a.m. with a presentation of the Dankook award in the McIntosh Center activities room. The Raabe College of Pharmacy hooding ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. in the ONU Sports Center.

Doors to the ONU Sports Center will open at 12:30 p.m. Sunday for the commencement ceremony. Guests should arrive by 1 p.m. The musical prelude will begin at 1:30 p.m., followed by the procession of faculty and students.

Published: Tue, 05/19/2009 - 4:13pm