"Dr. Rod Risley, a passionate advocate for community colleges and their role in helping students secure a more positive future, will present the keynote address"
Date May 17, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Author Editor
Publication SantaFe.com
Categories Community • Education, Lectures & Workshops • Local News & Sports
From a Santa Fe Community College press release...
A total of 476 students will receive 525 degrees and certificates during Santa Fe Community College’s graduation ceremony on Wednesday, May 23 at 5 p.m. in the William C. WitterFitness Education Center on the SFCC campus, 6401 Richards Ave.
Dr. Rod Risley will present the keynote address. Risley is a passionate advocate for community colleges and their role in helping students secure a more positive future. As national executive director of the honor society Phi Theta Kappa, Risley researches the academic and extracurricular performance of community college students, and studies how leadership development and service learning impact student success.
Risley played a leading role in developing the nationwide Community College Completion Challenge and the Community College Completion Corps, and he continues to champion the cause for completion as he travels and speaks across the country.
Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Risley earned the American Association of Community College’s National Leadership Award and its Distinguished Alumnus Award. His doctoral degree is in Community College Leadership from Mississippi State University.
Current graduate Barbara Griego will deliver the student address. Griego, who made the Dean’s List and is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, will discuss achieving one’s dreams and developing new ones. She left a job as a software tester in Austin, Texas to return to Santa Fe, her hometown. She struggled to find a job during the recession and decided to fulfill the promise she made to her father to earn a college degree. She will receive an Associate of Science in Computer Science degree.
At the commencement ceremony, 151 students will receive an Associate in Applied Science degree, 209 will receive certificates, 142 will receive an Associate in Arts degree, 16 will receive an Associate in Science degree, and seven students will receive an Associate in Applied Arts degree. Of the 476 graduates, 66.2 percent are female. The average age is 36, with ages ranging from 17 to 76. More than half are minorities, with 42.7 percent Hispanic, 41.4 percent white, 2.1 percent Native American, 1.9percent black and .6 percent Asian (11.3 percent unreported).
To accommodate the many graduates and their families, the college will give priority in the fitness center parking lot to those who need disability access and provide free shuttle bus service from outlying parking lots for other guests. For those unable to attend in person, the graduation ceremony will air live May 25 on SFCTV Comcast 16 and be rebroadcast at later times (check www.sfcc.edu).
