Commencement 2015: four days, six ceremonies, six keynote speakers

Rowan University for 2015 has redesigned its annual Commencement program, the pageant-filled ceremony that celebrates the year’s graduating class with six main ceremonies and six keynote speakers over four days.

“As always, Commencement is the most exciting time of year for us but this year will be extra special,” said Rowan University President Dr. Ali Houshmand. “Instead of a single main ceremony we will hold six smaller, more intimate main ceremonies across our Glassboro campus.”

Significantly, the schedule change enables Rowan to procure keynote speakers tailored specifically to colleges or groups of colleges.

Speakers include:

• Retired astronaut Dr. Bonnie Dunbar May 12 for the colleges of Engineering and Science & Mathematics and the School of Biological Sciences & Health Professions. Dunbar, an inductee into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, is a NASA veteran with 27 years of service who took part in five space flights and totaled more than 50 days in space. As a NASA mission specialist, she trained in Star City Russia and in 1995 flew the first docking flight between the Russian Space Station MIR and the Space Shuttle. Dunbar holds a Ph. D. in engineering from the University of Houston where she is a professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering and heads the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Center.

• Celebrated physician Dr. Norman Vinn for the School of Osteopathic Medicine (SOM) May 13. Dr. Vinn is a renowned family physician from San Clemente, Calif., and the immediate past president of the American Osteopathic Association. A fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP), Dr. Vinn was honored in 2009 as Physician of the Year by the ACOFP of California. He is also a founder of Housecall Doctors Medical Group, Inc., a home healthcare network that provides on-site clinical services to more than 2,000 elderly patients in Southern California.

• Renowned pop culture critic Ken Tucker for the colleges of Communication & Creative Arts and Performing Arts May 14. Tucker is the pop-culture critic for National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air with Terry Gross” program and the TV Critic and Critic-At-Large for Yahoo.com. Tucker was a founding editor of Entertainment Weekly and was its TV critic from 1990 until 2014, where he wrote reviews and cover stories including interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Sean Penn, the casts of The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The West Wing, and many more.

• N.J. Secretary of Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks for the College of Education May 14. Hendricks was named the first Secretary of Higher Education for the State of New Jersey by Gov. Chris Christie in 2011. As Secretary, she is responsible for policy and program development to enhance the capacity and competitiveness of New Jersey’s higher education institutions. Since her appointment as secretary, Hendricks has advanced a range of higher education reforms including the implementation of the New Jersey Medical and Health Sciences Education Restructuring Act of 2012 and the Building Our Future Bond Act.

• Sony Electronics President and COO Mike Fasulo for the Rohrer College of Business May 15. Fasulo, a 1982 graduate of Glassboro State College, joined Sony in 1984 as a junior financial analyst and rose consistently through the management ranks to now run North American operations. Prior to becoming President and COO of Sony Electronics, Fasulo was president of Sony's Media Solutions Company and president of its e-Solutions LLC division where he was responsible for the creation and launch of a new online and retail startup, Sony Style, which grew to a half-billion dollar asset.

• Univision executive Ashley Eden Abdullah, a 2006 Rowan graduate, for the College of Humanities & Social Sciences May 15. The Clementon native was a 2006 magna cum laude graduate of Rowan University with a bachelor of arts in Spanish and an International Studies concentration. Since then, Abdullah has been on a fast path to success. Hired for an entry level traffic job with Univision in Newfield, she is now an account executive with the network’s Miami affiliate where she has generated four major new business accounts and, between 2013 and 2014, was responsible for revenue growth of more than $200,000.

Rowan, which in 2012 opened Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) in Camden and in 2013 acquired SOM in Stratford, has experienced rapid expansion in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs and, to accommodate that growth, changed its Commencement program from one day to four to better serve students and loved ones.

Rowan, which today serves nearly 15,000 students, is projected to have 25,000 students by 2023. More than 2,300 participants from the Class of 2015 including 132 from SOM and 22 from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Stratford will take part in Commencement ceremonies this year. CMSRU will celebrate its first graduating class next year.

Changes to the Commencement schedule enable graduate and undergraduate programs to be combined into unified programs and allow unlimited guests at events on University Green, the main Commencement venue. (There will be a four-ticket limit per student for indoor venues.)

The changes are also expected to ease traffic congestion and the availability of hotel rooms and restaurant reservations.

For more information about Rowan’s Commencement, please visit www.rowan.edu/commencement.