Athens, Ga. – An estimated 1,520 students will be eligible to receive degrees at the University of Georgia’s summer commencement exercises Aug. 4 at 9:30 a.m. in Stegeman Coliseum.
The exercises are a combined ceremony for undergraduate and graduate students who complete degree requirements at the end of summer semester. About 870 candidates for bachelor’s degrees and 650 candidates for doctoral, master’s and specialist in education degrees are anticipated to be eligible to participate in the ceremony. Final numbers won’t be known until the conclusion of final exams on Aug. 2.
Gerald Grinstein, chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines, will be the commencement speaker and will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Grinstein became CEO in January of 2004 and is credited with guiding Delta through a period of financial difficulty that included 19 months under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The company emerged from Chapter 11 this past April as a restructured stand-alone carrier and its stock is again trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Delta is the nation’s third-largest airline and the largest employer in Georgia.
The first graduates of UGA’s new Eugene Odum School of Ecology will receive degrees at this ceremony. The school, which began operation July 1, will confer a Ph.D., a master’s degree and bachelor’s degrees.
As part of the ceremony, six undergraduates will be recognized as First Honor Graduates for having maintained perfect 4.0 grade point averages on all undergraduate-level work. The students and their home towns and majors are:
Grace A. Anglin, Douglasville, religion and psychology; Lindsay E. Calhoun, Vidalia, business administration; Ashley K. Congdon, Richmond Hill, family and consumer sciences; Theresa D. Dowst, Kennesaw, accounting; Mark A. Gregory, Tucker, biology; and Maren A. Sheppard, Stone Mountain, criminal justice.
Fall semester classes at UGA begin Aug. 16 and a commencement will be held Dec. 15 for students who complete degree requirements this fall.
