Summer Graduation

Farewell, Graduates!

Summer Commencement was held last Friday afternoon in the Chester Fritz auditorium, on UND’s campus. The Graduate School farewelled 169 Masters and Doctoral students from the University of North Dakota. We snapped a few photos backstage where some very happy, excited and nervous graduates straightened their hoods and adjusted their caps in readiness to shake hands with Interim Dean, Dr Wayne Swisher and President Kelley to receive their hard-earned diplomas. Congratulations to all who earned their grad degrees last week!

Listening for instructions about the ceremony

Grad School's Rita Amundson helps a graduate with her hood

History MA, Tom Backerud

Finals Week & Graduation

I honestly don’t know where this past academic year has gone as it seems like only yesterday we were welcoming a new group of graduate students at the Fall orientation. And this week, The Graduate School will say farewell to more than 330 Masters and Doctoral graduates who have successfully completed their advanced degree at the University of North Dakota.

One such group is the cohort of Physicians Assistant candidates who will have a hooding ceremony this weekend. Sixty students from 11 states will receive their degree. Here is a snapshot of the PA program’s graduating class of 2010:

Age Range: 24-59
Age Average: 38
Females: 29
Males: 31
Clinical Experience (average): 11 years

A demographic map of the graduating class shows the numbers of students from the 11 states represented (kindly created and provided by the program).

Here’s a link to their nice group photograph on the PA Web site. Part of the mission of the program is to support primary care physicians in rural health services and under-served populations, and we are being informed in The Graduate School of successful placements for students that is fulfilling that mission.

Congratulations to all students graduating. We wish you the best of luck and hope you will return to visit us at UND before too long.

Commencement Message from Dean Benoit

Success by Many Measures … You Decide

On a day that The Graduate School awards the University of North Dakota’s highest degrees to a most deserving group of students, we have much to be proud of. It is important that we celebrate their accomplishment of becoming a relatively small group of individuals to earn an advanced degree.

Frequently, we lose sight of the significance of advanced degrees and focus only on statistical measures — those commonly found in the tables produced by government agencies and research groups. Yes, it is important to point out what the statistical data shows. Simply stated, people with advanced degrees possess characteristics that facilitate career advancement and work in jobs or professions that result in higher compensation.

As Dean of The Graduate School, I often look to other characteristics of our students and graduates, which, in my estimation, are better measures of a graduate’s success. Many of these are not statistically based, but nonetheless important. The receipt of an advanced degree, master’s or doctoral, brings with it a responsibility for leadership. Advanced degree holders are lifelong learners who are more likely to be engaged in community service, matters of social justice, and key agents of change in society.

Today, The Graduate School awarded 131 degrees to students in fields ranging from anatomy to visual arts. Each of these graduate degree recipients have already made significant contributions that somehow advanced their respective field of study.

For these contributions, I congratulate our newest graduate school alumni. I am confident that you are fully equipped to succeed in your respective fields. I am optimistic that you will use what you learned in graduate school to make a difference in our world.

Good luck in all that you do, and best wishes for a happy, productive career, and a meaningful contribution to life.