IU Southeast hosted a commencement ceremony for the largest graduating class in the history of the university on May 9.
Students, parents, faculty and staff crowded by the amphitheater behind Knobview Hall to celebrate the end of one phase and the beginning of another.
There were 1,104 students who graduated with IU degrees — 47 with degrees in partnership with Purdue — for a total of 1,151 graduates. Of those students, 63 percent were female and 16 percent were a minority.
Chancellor Sandra Patterson-Randles welcomed the new graduates with a speech.
“Congratulations Indiana University Southeast class of 2011,” Patterson-Randles said. “You are the largest graduating class in IU Southeast history. You have earned an IU degree. You have sacrificed and worked hard, and today you should celebrate.”
Pako Martin Munoz, communications graduate, was chosen as the class representative for the commencement ceremony.
“We have achieved, not only in the classroom, but throughout our community,” Munoz said. “We will utilize the knowledge we have acquired at IU Southeast to improve the world we live in.”
When IU Southeast first gained university status in 1968, it was granted ability to award two and four-year degrees, 42 students were awarded degrees in nursing and education.
The first commencement ceremony was at Warder Park in Jeffersonville, where the school was previously located.
Edwin Crooks, IU Southeast’s first administrator to receive the title of chancellor, as well as H. B Wells, former IU president, attended this first ceremony and wrote a letter to the first graduating class of IU Southeast.
“On 10 June 1969, you participated in an historic event — the first commencement of Indiana University Southeast,” Crooks said. “We hope that the knowledge and skills you acquired while among us will equip you to serve better mankind, to improve this world for the benefit of all and to give you a most satisfying career.”
IU Southeast has now grown to offer more than 50 degrees at the associate, undergraduate and graduate levels.
IU Southeast’s growth from a small IU extension campus into a developed university with a sizable campus, library, graduate center and on-campus housing has contributed to the lure for students choosing which school to attend.
“I am certain that the class of 2011 will continue to reach and inspire people around the world as our fellow IU Southeast alumni have been doing for the last 70 years,” Munoz said.
By MICHELE HOP
Profiles Editor
mhop@ius.edu
