1,060 students scheduled to attend May Commencement Ceremonies

NEW PALTZ — The State University of New York at New Paltz will hold its May Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony for 900 candidates at 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 21, on the Old Main Quadrangle. The students attending the ceremony represent approximately 83 percent of a graduating class of 1,081. The national average for graduation participation is 64-68 percent.

The May Graduate Commencement Ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 19, also on the Old Main Quadrangle. There are 160 graduate candidates scheduled to attend the ceremony.

At the undergraduate ceremony, the college will award an honorary doctorate of humane letters to Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The New York Times. Sulzberger will deliver the undergraduate commencement speech after receiving the honorary degree, the highest honor the State University of New York can bestow upon an individual.

Also at the Undergraduate Ceremony, College President Steven Poskanzer will award SUNY New Paltz alumnus, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (’68,’70g), the Presidential Medal, the highest honor SUNY New Paltz can bestow upon an individual, in recognition of his ongoing support of the college.

The May 2006 Valedictorian is Fitzarnaz (Fitz) Vaudeville Drummond, from Stuyvesant. Drummond has double majors in finance and management and has served as a resident assistant and president of the Residence Hall Student Association (RHSA). He recently received the SUNY Chancellors Award for Student Excellence and has been inducted into the Sigma Beta Delta International Honor Society for business, management and administration.

After graduation, Drummond will be employed at Mediacom Communications Corporation as a financial analyst. Ultimately, he plans to pursue his MBA and Ph.D., and would like to teach at the university level.

The Salutatorian is Krista Lynette Priestley of Kingston. Priestley is an English major, who has also completed a childhood education curriculum of study.

The college will also recognize Dr. H. Faruk Karadogan of Istanbul Technical University, Ayazaga Campus, Turkey, who will help to celebrate the conferring of degrees upon the first cohort of students participating in the joint Istanbul Technical University-SUNY New Paltz dual degree program (www.newpaltz.edu/dualdiploma). There are six students who have completed the program – three with business degrees and three with economic degrees.

In addition, the college will recognize SUNY New Paltz Professor Rimer Cardillo, who has been awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence for Scholarship and Creative Activity.

Both commencement ceremonies are ticketed events, and all graduation candidates and spectators must present a ticket to participate.