Winter Commencement set for Saturday, Dec. 13, at Convocation Center

Dec. 9, 2008 -- Arkansas State University in Jonesboro will hold winter commencement ceremonies Saturday, Dec. 13, at 2 p.m. in the Convocation Center.

Author Clay S. Jenkinson of Bismarck, N.D., is the featured speaker. Jenkinson is a humanities scholar, author, and social commentator who has devoted most of his professional career to public humanities programs and is considered one of the most entertaining public speakers in the United States.

The afternoon ceremony will include all colleges. ASU chancellor Dr. Robert L. Potts will present the diplomas. Daniel Rickman of Bono is the student speaker. Rickman is a senior receiving a bachelor of science degree in marketing. He is graduating summa cum laude.

The Registrar’s Office has listed 691 students as candidates for degrees at both graduate and undergraduate levels. Of that number, 158 are graduate degrees, and 516 are undergraduate degrees. There are six doctoral degrees and 11 specialist degrees.

Jenkinson is one of the nation’s leading interpreters of Thomas Jefferson and has lectured about and portrayed Jefferson in forty-nine states over a period of 15 years. Jenkinson also portrays Meriwether Lewis, John Wesley Powell, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Theodore Roosevelt. He has performed before Supreme Court justices, presidents, 18 state legislatures, and countless public, corporate and student  audiences as well as appearing on The Today Show, Politically Incorrect, The Colbert Report and CNN.

He is the recipient of one of the first five Charles Frankel Prizes, the National Endowment for the Humanities’ highest award (now called the National Humanities Medal), from President George H. Bush and was the first public humanities scholar to present a program at a White House-sponsored event when he presented Thomas Jefferson for a gathering hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton.  When award-winning humanities documentary producer Ken Burns turned his attention to Thomas Jefferson, he asked Jenkinson to be the major humanities commentator on that film and others that followed.

A reception for all graduates, their guests, and faculty and staff will be held on the north mezzanine of the Convocation Center, between the blue entrance and the green entrances, following the commencement ceremony.

All faculty, staff, graduates, and their friends and families are invited to attend.           

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