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Wilkes University to Hold 72nd Spring Commencement on May 18

Honorary Degrees To Be Awarded to Alumni Ronald W. Simms and Robert Bruggeworth

Wilkes-Barre, PA (05/10/2019) — Wilkes University will hold its 72nd Spring Commencement on Saturday, May 18 in the McHale Athletic Center of the University Center on Main, 169 S. Main St. in Wilkes-Barre. Graduate students earning master's and doctoral degrees will receive their diplomas at a 10 a.m. ceremony. Undergraduate students earning bachelor's degrees will be awarded diplomas at a 3 p.m. ceremony. Wilkes President Patrick F. Leahy will preside over both ceremonies, marking his last commencement as president.

Anne Skleder, Wilkes senior vice president and provost, will address the graduates at the 10 a.m. ceremony. It is Skleder's last commencement before she departs the university this summer to become president of Brenau University in Georgia.

Two honorary degrees will be awarded at the 3 p.m. ceremony. Robert Bruggeworth, a 1983 Wilkes graduate, and Ronald W. Simms, a 1960 Wilkes graduate, will each receive an honorary doctorate of business. Bruggeworth, who majored in electrical engineering at Wilkes, is president and chief executive officer of Qorvo, a global communications chip maker headquartered in Greensboro, N.C. Simms, a Shavertown, Pa., resident, earned his Wilkes degree in commerce and finance. He is chairman of the board of Petroleum Service Co., an international distributor of petroleum products, and president and chairman of the board of Mountain Productions, a national leader in stage design and construction. Both companies are based in Wilkes-Barre.

Graduating senior Kya Lewis, a Philadelphia area resident, will be the student speaker at the 3 p.m. ceremony. Lewis is the recipient of the Alumni Leadership Award, presented by the Wilkes University Alumni Association to the member of the graduating class considered to have made the strongest contribution to student life and the student activities program of the University. Lewis, a business management and marketing major, has served as two-term president of programming board, been a resident assistant and was orientation coordinator.

About Wilkes University:

Wilkes University is a private, independent, non-sectarian institution of higher education dedicated to academic and intellectual excellence through mentoring in the liberal arts, sciences and professional programs. Founded in 1933, the university is on a mission to create one of the nation's finest small universities, offering all of the programs, activities and opportunities of a large university in the intimate, caring and mentoring environment of a small college, open to all who show promise. The Economist named Wilkes 25th in the nation for the value of its education for graduates. In addition to 46 majors, Wilkes offers 25 master's degree programs and five doctoral/terminal degree programs, including the doctor of philosophy in nursing, doctor of nursing practice, doctor of education, doctor of pharmacy, and master of fine arts in creative writing. Learn more at www.wilkes.edu.

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