University of Wyoming Winter Commencement December 14

The University of Wyoming will award degrees to about 660 students during a combined winter commencement ceremony on Saturday, December 14, beginning at 9:30 AM in the Arena-Auditorium.

The new graduates come from 22 of Wyoming’s 23 counties, 37 states, and 28 foreign countries.

Speakers for this year’s commencement include the keynote speaker, and UW alumni, General Susan Pamerleau who is the current U.S. marshal for the Western District of Texas and retired Air Force major general.

Also speaking will be graduating mechanical engineering senior Adelaide Clarke, of Mound, Minnesota and Dan McCoy, graduating Ph.D. student in higher education administration and a UW associate lecturer.

Pamerleau received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UW in 1968 and a master’s degree in public administration from Golden Gate University in 1977. She served for 32 years in the Air Force and was the first woman to command the Air Force Personnel Center and to command the Air Force ROTC. She also served on the International Military Staff at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Her career also includes serving as sheriff of Bexar County, Texas, which has the 11th largest sheriff’s office in the nation.

Her contributions to UW have included creating multiple scholarships for Air Force ROTC and sociology students, along with serving on the UW Foundation Board of Directors from 2011-18.

Clarke was selected to be the undergraduate student speaker after a busy and rigorous time at UW. While pursuing her mechanical engineering degree, she was involved in the lacrosse and triathlon clubs; the Society of Women Engineers; undergraduate research; and the STEP Tutoring Center. She studied abroad in Ecuador. Following graduation, she will work as an applications engineer in Minnesota.

McCoy, the graduate student speaker, has pursued his Ph.D. while serving as associate lecturer and coordinator of the new outdoor recreation and tourism management degree in UW’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. He has been a full-time UW employee for over 20 years, including starting and leading the Outdoor Program and working in Campus Recreation. He has been a part-time student for the past decade, completing both his master’s and doctoral degrees.

SOURCE: University of Wyoming