509 MORE THAN 900 TO GRADUATE FROM MTSU AT SUMMER CEREMONY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 14, 2006
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, 615-898-2919

Graduation Event Will Again be Webcast for Those Unable to Attend

(MURFREESBORO)—A projected 940 degree candidates will graduate during the summer 2006 commencement ceremony, MTSU officials announced recently.
Graduation will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, in Murphy Center on the campus of MTSU, with Dr. Rebecca Fischer, interim chairwoman for the Department of Speech and Theatre and the current MTSU representative of the Tennessee Board of Regents’ (TBR) Faculty Subcouncil, delivering the commencement address.
Some 688 of the degree candidates will be undergraduates, said Dr. Sherian Huddleston, director, Records, and assistant vice provost, Enrollment Services, with 252 students slated to graduate from the College of Graduate Studies. This total includes two graduate certificate recipient, 226 earning their master's degrees, 17 earning their specialist in education (Ed.S.) degrees and seven earning doctoral degrees.
Regarding the 2006 commencement speaker, Fischer, prior to being appointed interim chairwoman for MTSU’s speech and theatre department, served as a full-time classroom educator, full professor and audiologist for the university’s Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic.
Prior joining MTSU’s speech and theatre faculty in 1995, Fischer earned a bachelor’s degree in education for the deaf from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and a master of science degree in aural-oral rehabilitation from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, before garnering a Ph.D. in hearing and speech sciences from Vanderbilt University. She also holds professional memberships in the American Auditory Society, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and Auditory-Verbal International. She was named a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology and is a past president for the Tennessee Academy of Audiology, among other honors.
In addition to her 2005-2006 tenure as president of MTSU’s Faculty Senate, Fischer has served on various university committees, including membership on the President’s Commission on the Status of Women and service as a convener for the university’s Scholarship/Student Affairs Sub-Committee and the Women’s Scholarship Committee, respectively. She also is a founding member and former secretary and vice president of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf Inc. and a current member of the Tennessee Statewide Early Intervention Taskforce, which promotes early detection of hearing impairment.
Dr. Jack Thomas, vice provost for academic affairs and chairman of the
commencement committee, said he wanted to remind all degree candidates of
the importance of appropriate dress, decorum and respect for the
commencement ceremony.
“We believe this is a very important day in the lives of many people,”
Thomas said. “Commencement is one of those few days that families always
remember as special. It is difficult to give the ceremony the dignified
atmosphere it deserves if attendees are using air horns or leaving before
the completion of the ceremony.”


Additionally, per Thomas, the graduation committee also emphasized
that students who participate in commencement will be required to stay for
the entire ceremony. The ceremony should last about two hours. If candidates
are planning celebration activities, please be aware of this commitment, he
said.
“To make this a special day, it requires cooperation from everyone in
attendance,” Thomas said. “We believe it should be a dignified ceremony,
which adds to its enjoyment of all in attendance.”
At 8:30 a.m. Aug. 12, Murphy Center doors will open for the commencement
ceremony. Candidates are expected to be in their assigned areas, dressed in
their caps and gowns, no later than 9 a.m.
Officials report that students who are not in their assigned gym at the
proper times will not be allowed to participate in the ceremony. Because
commencement rehearsals are no longer conducted, timely attendance is
mandatory for students to receive important instructions.
For more information about commencement or receiving a degree in absentia,
please visit the Records Office Web site at www.mtsu.edu/~records/ grad.htm .
Questions about graduation may be directed to the Records Office at
615-898-2600.

• FYI/Webcasting: The ceremony will again be shown via Webcast for those who are unable to attend but have Internet. To access the Webcast, please go to www.mtsu.edu and click on the “Summer 2006 Commencement” photo at right. Then, under “Live Events,” click on the “Summer 2006 Commencement,” which will launch any previously installed Windows Real Player. Those whose computers do not have Windows Real Player installed are advised to click on the “Windows Real Player” option at right. This link will route to a Web page that contains all the available computer versions. Select the appropriate one for the user’s computer, download it, and install it. Then, retry by clicking on “Summer 2006 Commencement.”

Please note that on the day of commencement, the link will not be active until about 15 minutes prior to the start of the ceremony.



MTSU SUMMER 2006 COMMENCEMENT AT A GLANCE

Who: 940 graduates* (688 undergraduates, 252 graduate students)
What: MTSU summer commencement
When: 10 a.m. Aug. 12; doors open at 8:30 a.m.
Where: Murphy Center
Commencement speaker: Dr. Rebecca Fischer, interim chairwoman, Department of Speech and Theatre.
* — Approximate number as of July 12, 2006.