GVSU to celebrate graduates April 26

Nearly 2,900 Grand Valley State University students will participate in commencement ceremonies April 26 at Van Andel Arena. Students will hear addresses from a national security expert and an African education leader.

Lawrence J. Korb, senior fellow at American Progress, is the morning speaker, and Naana Jane Sam Opoku-Agyemang, minister for education in Ghana, is the afternoon speaker.

Grand Valley Commencement Ceremonies
Saturday, April 26, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Van Andel Arena, downtown Grand Rapids
The ceremonies will be webcast at www.gvsu.edu/commencement
MEDIA NOTE: Skybox 101B is reserved for media. The box offers a mult box and an elevated, unobstructed view of the podium and platform. For more information, contact Grand Valley University Communications at (616) 331-2221

The 10 a.m. ceremony will include the following colleges: Seidman College of Business, College of Community and Public Service, Padnos College of Engineering and Computing, College of Health Professions and Kirkhof College of Nursing. The 3 p.m. ceremony will include the following colleges: College of Education, Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Speakers
Korb is a senior fellow at American Progress, an institute dedicated to improving lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action. He has served as assistant secretary of defense and dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. He has written numerous books and articles on national security issues.

Opoku-Agyemang is the minister for education in Ghana, West Africa, where she plans to construct 200 high schools to provide opportunity for the country’s growing youth population. She was the first woman to be named vice chancellor at the University of Cape Coast, where she led the English Department and was the founding dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research.

Awards and honorary degrees
The Alumni Association will present its Distinguished Alumni Award to Kathleen Vogelsang, director and chief investment officer for Van Andel Institute, and its Outstanding Educator Award to Asli Y. Akbulut, associate professor of management.

John C. Canepa and William Lieberman will receive honorary degrees. Canepa, a member of Grand Valley’s advisory cabinet, retired as consulting principal for Crowe Horwath LLP, one of the largest CPA firms in the country. He was named CEO of the Year by Financial World Magazine and Business Person of the Year by the Economic Club of Grand Rapids. Lieberman, who graduated from Grand Valley with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1979, is the owner and director of Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago’s River North contemporary art district. He has donated more than 50 works of art to Grand Valley.