USU Commencement set for May 7-8

Highly successful actor, community activist and philanthropist Danny Glover will address Utah State University undergraduate students during USU’s 123rd graduation ceremony Saturday, May 8, in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan. The hooding ceremony for graduate students is Friday, May 7, in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

 

Glover will join a group of four other prominent individuals who will receive honorary doctorates during the Saturday events. Others receiving honorary doctorates are: public radio pioneer Donald R. Quayle; business leader and public servant Scott R. Simplot; psychologist, community volunteer and environmental activist Dr. Paula Swaner; and long-time Utah media executive Dominic A. Welch.

 

Undergraduate students assemble on the university Quad with their colleges no later than 8:30 a.m. Saturday. In the event of exceptionally bad weather, graduates will assemble in the Nelson Field House. The procession begins at 9 a.m. The ceremony begins at 9:30 a.m.

 

A new event, “Senior Celebration 2010” takes place Thursday, May 6, 7-9 p.m. in the Taggart Student Center. This is a free event for graduating seniors and $5 for guests. There will be refreshments, giveaways and entertainment. Tickets may be picked up at the David B. Haight Alumni Center on campus.

 

The Graduate Commencement and Hooding Ceremony for master’s and doctoral degree candidates is Friday 1:30-3:30 p.m. in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. Assembly of candidates takes place at 12:30 p.m. in the Nelson Field House for the procession. Candidates will hear their names and degrees formally announced; master’s candidates are hooded by members of the Graduate Council while doctoral candidates will be hooded by their major professors and deans.

 

Guest tickets are not required for the commencement ceremonies in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum or for the college ceremonies. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors to the Spectrum will be open to the public for the ceremonies at noon, Friday, May 7, and 8 a.m., Saturday, May 8.

 

Visit the commencement website for more detailed information.

 

 

Danny Glover has been a commanding presence on screen, stage and television for more than 25 years. His film credits range from the blockbuster Lethal Weapon franchise to the cult classic Saw to smaller independent features, some of which Glover also produced. He has also had success in the television arena, with a recurring role on the hit NBC drama series ER during the 2005 season and with a role on the popular ABC drama Brothers and Sisters.

 

A native of San Francisco, Calif., Glover earned a degree in economics from San Francisco State University and also trained at the Black Actors’ Workshop of the American Conservatory Theater. He started his acting career on the stage, appearing in numerous plays, including Athol Fugard’s The Island and Sizwe Banzi is Dead. However, it was Glover’s Broadway debut in Fugard’s Master Harold … and the Boys that first brought the actor national recognition.

 

It was after seeing his performance in Master Harold … and the Boys that film director Robert Benton cast Glover in his first leading role in 1984’s Oscar-nominated Best Picture Places in the Heart. The following year, Glover starred in two more Best Picture nominees: Peter Weir’s Witness and Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple.

 

In 1987, Glover partnered with Mel Gibson in the first Lethal Weapon film, earning an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actor. He went on to star in three hugely successful Lethal Weapon sequels. Glover’s many film credits also include The Royal Tenenbaums; Beloved, for which he won an Image Award for Best Actor; The Rainmaker; Angels in the Outfield; and Lawrence Kasdan’s Grand Canyon and Silverado.

 

Glover also has direct ties to USU. He is developing a film about star USU football player Lionel Aldridge, who had an extremely successful career in the NFL but who struggled with mental illness. Mr. Glover also was a guest on campus during a symposium about the great American poet Langston Hughes, and students and faculty alike praised Mr. Glover’s accessibility, his generosity and his ability to inspire them.

 

He has also gained respect for his wide-reaching community activism and philanthropic efforts. Glover currently serves as a UNICEF Ambassador and, in recognition of his dedication to public service, has received numerous prestigious honors including the 2002 Marian Anderson Award, the 2003 NAACP Chairman’s Award, the 2004 BET Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2009 CBCF Phoenix Award. He is also chairman of the board of TransAfrica Forum, a non-profit global justice organization whose focus is on fostering a closer alliance amongst and address issues facing African Americans and peoples in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

 

Glover has been renowned and highly respected for personal, hands-on efforts that have helped people throughout the world on issues including work on hunger and housing for the poor, community safety, equal and fair wages for workers, and meeting the healthcare needs of the underserved. He has been spokesperson for U.N. campaigns on poverty, disease and economic development in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. He is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, which has led him to visit orphans and vulnerable children in developing countries affected by HIV/AIDS, and he has worked to counteract the devastating effects of landmines on children in Ethiopia.

 

 

Donald R. Quayle started his career in public broadcasting at Utah State University where, as an undergraduate, he helped put Utah’s first educational radio station on the air. He received his master’s degree in theater arts from USU before moving on to Ohio State for graduate work. Quayle was an early advocate of the concept of interconnection and networking for educational radio and television. He worked in leadership positions at a number of educational television and radio networks, including as a networking consultant for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He became the first president of National Public Radio, and he worked tirelessly at Corporation for Public Broadcasting to create CPB’s education department. Throughout his career, he was an outspoken advocate of decentralization and increasing the power of individual stations to make programming decisions.

 

 

Scott R. Simplot is an outstanding citizen, business leader and public servant. Chairman of the board of the J. R. Simplot Company for over a decade, Simplot has guided all company activities and has been a liaison between the board and senior executive management. The J. R. Simplot Company, with more than 13,000 employees, is a principal driver of the Idaho economy. It is one basis of the state’s reputation for world-class potatoes, and the company has also diversified into vegetables, fertilizers, cattle, turf grass, and processing and distribution systems. Under his leadership, the J. R. Simplot Company established its own research unit to advance the cultivation and processing of potatoes and to improve turf grasses, cattle breeding and cattle nutrition. Simplot is a 1968 University of Idaho alumnus and MBA holder from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He emphasizes the company objectives of continual learning and problem solving through the application of science and technology. He also remains committed to “work that benefits humanity.” His investments in cutting-edge industries have brought opportunities to Idaho, the nation and the world. He was an early advocate of using computers and information technology to change the business world. He was a founding member of the board of directors for Micron Technology, which has become Idaho’s largest private employer. Simplot’s community commitment extends to volunteer efforts. He has helped such public groups as the Chamber of Commerce and the Salvation Army; his most recent involvement is as chair of the expansion of the Idaho Food Bank, to help alleviate hunger across the state.

 

 

Dr. Paula Swaner has received several degrees from the University of Utah, including a bachelor of arts and a master of arts in English literature, as well as a master’s of science in educational psychology and a doctorate in clinical psychology. She has also received a master of arts from Pacific Graduate Institute in the Mythological Studies Program and is in the dissertation phase of a doctoral program from Pacifica University. In addition to her degrees, Dr. Swaner has certifications in Object Relations Theory and Therapy from the School of Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis, as well as from the Academy for Guided Imagery. In 2003 she established the Rocky Mountain Psychological Center, a Psychotherapist’s Group Practice involving training and community mental health projects. Dr. Swaner and her family are responsible for developing the Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter, a land preservation and environmental education project that recently signed a strategic partnership with USU. Dr. Swaner has received numerous honors, including the Heart and Hands Award from the Cornerstone Counseling Center (2001) and from the Swaner EcoCenter (2006), the Norman S. Anderson MD Award for Distinguished Service to Mental Health in Utah (2002), and Emeritus Merit of Honor from the University of Utah (2003).

 

 

Dominic Welch has been an avid newspaper reader throughout his life, beginning as a child in Price, Utah. There he worked at the neighborhood shoeshine stand, where he had the opportunity to read the Salt Lake Tribune. Welch was named the publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune in February 1994 and at that time was president of the Newspaper Agency Corp., overseeing the advertising, printing, and distribution of the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News. He left the board of the NAC in February 2001 and retired from the Tribune in August 2002 when it was taken over by its owner, MediaNews Group Inc. At the time of his appointment at the Tribune, Welch was also the president of the Kearns-Tribune Corporation, whose subsidiaries then owned the Lewiston Morning Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho); The Daily News (Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Washington); the Daily Sparks Tribune (suburban Reno, Nevada — Welch later purchased this paper after he left the Tribune); and The Gazette (a weekly in Colfax, Wash.). Welch’s career started after his graduation from Utah State University in 1957, when he joined Wells Baxter and Miller, a major Utah accounting firm that later merged with Haskins & Sells. There, Welch’s duties included auditing the Salt Lake Tribune. He later joined the Kearns-Tribune Corporation as controller in 1965. He became the general manager and treasurer in 1970 and was named the corporate president in 1983. He also became the director and treasurer of the Newspaper Agency Corporation in 1976.