MILWAUKEE_The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will award more than 2,200 degrees at its 115th commencement on Sunday, Dec. 18, at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, 400 W. Kilbourn Ave.
The featured speaker will be Avi Shaked, founder and chief executive officer of Onward Technologies, a Chicago-based provider of corporate IT services and custom software development.
Chris Kegel, the owner of Milwaukee-based chain of bicycle shops Wheel & Sprocket, has been awarded an honorary doctor of business. (Note: He received the award at a ceremony on Thursday because he was unable to attend Sunday’s commencement ceremony.)
Regent Michael Grebe will provide a greeting from the UW System Board of Regents.
The university will award 1,348 bachelor’s degrees, 721 master’s degrees, 144 doctoral degrees and 24 flexible options degrees.
The average age of a bachelor’s degree recipient is 26 years old. The oldest bachelor’s recipient is expected to be Thomas Ray Tiffany, 67, from the College of Letters & Science; the youngest, Iman Abdelmonem Salah, 20, from the Lubar School of Business.
The ceremony starts at 10 a.m. Doors open to the arena at 9 a.m.
Parking is available in the Wisconsin Center District parking lot, 500 W. Wells St., or the Federal Plaza parking garage, 747 N. Old World 3rd St. Drivers going to the Wisconsin Center District parking lot can turn right off of 4th Street onto Wells Street. Those going to the Federal Plaza parking garage should continue east on McKinley, passing 4th Street, and take a right on Old World 3rd Street.
COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
Born in Israel, Avi Shaked moved to the United States after serving in the Israeli Air Force. With the help of a scholarship, he attended UWM, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1980. He went to work at IBM, where he helped design the System/36, a popular minicomputer. In 1987, he founded his own company, which is now Onward Technologies.
Acknowledging the impact of the scholarship he received, Shaked and his wife, Dr. Babs Waldman, established a foundation in 2006 to provide scholarships for engineering students at UWM. More than 250 students have received scholarships so far.
HONORARY DEGREE
Chris Kegel, the owner of Milwaukee-based chain of bicycle shops Wheel & Sprocket, has been awarded an honorary doctor of business. Kegel began working at Wheel & Sprocket in 1973 while he was a student at UWM. By 1989, he had become president and owner of the company.
Under Kegel’s leadership, Wheel & Sprocket has become the largest bike retailer in Wisconsin, and Kegel has become a leader nationally. He has spoken at hundreds of bicycle advocacy events across the country, helped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for trail creation, maintenance and bike safety, and has served on the boards of numerous bicycle groups.
He’s also been involved in charitable work. Through donations, sponsorships, and volunteer work supporting cycling events, he has helped local and national charities raise millions of dollars.
STUDENTS HONORED
Three UWM students will be featured in videos (linked below) during commencement. Reporters who wish to interview them should contact Michelle Johnson at (414) 229-7490.
Taylor Layton, history and religious studies, worked in two internships in Italy, which helped him land a job in Washington, D.C., as the U.S. marketing manager for the Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation. During his time on the site of ancient Stabiae, a city buried with Pompeii by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, Layton discovered a passion for using 3D scanning and printing technology to preserve artifacts and allow access to them from anywhere in the world. Layton played soccer at the U.S. Naval Academy before working with the U.S. Army as a fitness coach. He is also a professional soccer player who played for the Milwaukee Wave on and off during his time at UWM.
Cassandra Bence, civil engineering, is president of the Engineers Without Borders chapter at UWM. She traveled to Guatemala three times with the group to build infrastructure to bring running water to impoverished villages. Bence describes the work as giving communities ownership – allowing them to focus time that had previously been spent gathering water on schooling, creating products to sell and farming. After graduation, Bence will remain involved with Engineers Without Borders as a mentor to future UWM students.
LuVerda Sayles Martin will receive her doctorate of nursing practice 20 years after receiving her bachelor’s degree in nursing from UWM. In the 13 years that she’s worked toward her doctorate, Martin has had two children and overcome a threatening breast cancer diagnosis. She’s also a certified nurse midwife and clinical instructor at UWM. Through it all, she remained motivated to serve as a role model as a woman of color in the nursing field. One of Martin’s proudest moments was surprising her father with the news of her upcoming graduation, an emotional moment captured on cell phone video the day she successfully defended her dissertation.
SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
The numbers of degrees awarded by UWM schools and colleges are below. The numbers include bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and flex degrees.
College of Letters and Science: 567
Lubar School of Business: 407
School of Education: 184
College of Engineering & Applied Science (CEAS): 242
College of Health Sciences: 161
Peck School of the Arts: 106
College of Nursing: 141
Helen Bader School of Social Welfare: 183
School of Information Studies: 150
School of Architecture & Urban Planning: 51
Zilber School of Public Health: 8
Global Studies Interdisciplinary: 9
School of Freshwater Sciences: 12
Joint Programs L&S and CEAS: 2
MEDIA ACCESS
Members of the media wishing to cover the commencement ceremonies should enter through the Panther Arena’s main doors and ask for assistance from an usher.
For more information, contact Michelle Johnson, (414) 229-7490, john3453@uwm.edu
About UWM
Recognized as one of the nation’s 115 top research universities, UW-Milwaukee provides a world-class education to 26,000 students from 89 countries on a budget of $667 million. Its 14 schools and colleges include Wisconsin’s only schools of architecture, freshwater sciences and public health, and it is a leading educator of nurses and teachers. UW-Milwaukee partners with leading companies to conduct joint research, offer student internships and serve as an economic engine for southeastern Wisconsin. The Princeton Review named UW-Milwaukee a 2017 “Best Midwestern” university based on overall academic excellence and student reviews, as well as a top “Green College.”