51³Ô¹ÏÍø

AMHERST, N.Y. – 51³Ô¹ÏÍø College President Gary A. Olson will confer degrees to more than 1,025 undergraduate and graduate candidates as the college celebrates its 65^th annual commencement on May 21 in Kleinhans Music Hall.

The undergraduate ceremony for the Class of 2016 will start at 2:30 p.m. The commencement address will be given by Yvonne S. Boice, a prominent businesswoman and philanthropist in Boca Raton, Fla., who owns and operates The Shoppes at Village Pointe, a thriving 77,000-square-foot shopping center, and Fugazy International Travel, an American Express affiliate.

The afternoon ceremony will include the presentation of the Charles Lumsden Award, the college’s most prestigious academic award, to the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø student with the highest GPA throughout their undergraduate years.

The 7 p.m. graduate ceremony will feature commencement speaker John R. Yurtchuk, chairman and owner of Calspan Corp., an industry leader in flight control, test pilot training, and a range of transportation testing and research in the U.S. and internationally.

Among the graduate students receiving degrees will be 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s first master of public health and master of social work degree recipients. Also participating in the graduate ceremony will be Kelsey Snyder, the first 51³Ô¹ÏÍø student to earn a master’s degree in cytotechnology, a unique program offered through a partnership between 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. As a new graduate of the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-Roswell program, Snyder will begin a position at RPCI this summer.

During 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s commencement ceremonies, keynote speakers Boice and Yurtchuk will each receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

For the first time, both undergraduate and graduate ceremonies will be streamed live online at daemen.edu/commencement.