More than 400 students will graduate during fall commencement.

Ceremonies will be Saturday, December 15, in the Special Events Center on the main FPU campus, 1717 S. Chestnut Ave., Fresno. Students in the traditional undergraduate, seminary and other graduate programs will graduate at 10:00 a.m., and students in the bachelor’s degree completion programs will graduate at 1:30 p.m.

The speaker at both events will be Pete C. Menjares, Ph.D., president of FPU.

A new feature at FPU’s commencement May 5 was recognizing those who attended 50 years ago as Golden Alumni.

All members of the Pacific College classes of 1960-1962 had their names listed in the commencement program. Golden Alumni were also invited to a luncheon in Ashley Auditorium in McDonald Hall after the morning graduation ceremony and received commemorative sashes. Pictured from left are: Carol (Becker AA ‘62) Friesen, Ken (AA ’62) Becker, Arthur Wiebe (president from 1960-1975) and Marilyn (Enns AA ‘62) Pittman.

D. Merrill Ewert told the 2012 graduates what he has told every Fresno Pacific University graduating class for a decade: “Commencement is my favorite day of the year!”

 

What’s significant about Ewert’s May 5 announcement is that this favorite day was his last as a college professor, administrator and president. Ewert, who became FPU president in June 2002 after a career at Wheaton College, the University of Maryland and Cornell University, will retire July 31, 2012. Pete Menjares, a faculty member and administrator at Biola University, will be 11th president.

More than 350 graduates will receive degrees during the fall commencement Saturday, December 17. 

The graduate and traditional undergraduate ceremony begins at 10:00 a.m. Bachelor’s degree completion students receive their diplomas at 2:00 p.m. Both commencements will be in the Special Events Center on the main FPU campus, 1717 S. Chestnut Ave., Fresno, south of the Chestnut-Butler intersection. In all, 273 bachelor’s degree completion graduates will receive diplomas, along with 44 master’s students and 35 traditional undergraduates.

A new group of graduates will be part of commencement Saturday, May 7.

Those earning master’s degrees through the Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary, formerly MB Biblical Seminary, will join graduates of the traditional undergraduate and master’s programs. The seminary became a school of the university in February 2010 and this May marks the completion of the first full academic year since the merger. These are the first joint ceremonies.

Among the 284 new graduates December 11 were a dozen representing the first cohort of the global MBA program.

The first cohort of students began the 16-month, 41-unit program in August 2009 at the North Fresno Center. The program consists of weekly evening classes and online component. In all, three cohorts are now going in Visalia and Bakersfield as well as North Fresno.

Check out Cyndee Fontana's great Fresno Bee story on three students graduating Saturday: