UD Announces 2016 Commencement Ceremonies
May 10, 2016
DUBUQUE, Iowa – The University of Dubuque today announced the calendar of events for its 164th Commencement for 411 undergraduate, graduate, and seminary students.
College Commencement Events
The College Baccalaureate Service will be held Friday, May 13, at 5:00 p.m. in Heritage Center’s John and Alice Butler Hall. This year’s Baccalaureate Service speaker will be Dr. Paul Jensen, professor of philosophy and religion, who has chosen “Sowing and Reaping” as the title of his remarks.
The University of Dubuque will confer degrees on 296 undergraduate and 87 graduate students during its 164th Commencement on Saturday, May 14, beginning at 1:00 p.m. in the Chlapaty Recreation and Wellness Center on the University campus. Dr. Marta Abele, MEd, PhD, professor of education and director of the Bridge Program, will deliver the Commencement address, titled “It’s All in the Name.”
Abele has taught instructional methods courses to preservice teachers at UD for nearly 20 years. She began her college years at Oklahoma State University before transferring to Phillips University where she completed her bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Missouri, and a doctorate in education from Capella University. Prior to joining UD’s faculty, Abele taught in K-12 schools in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Iowa.
The development of the Bridge Program in 2008 cultivated Abele’s passion for providing college opportunities to all students who have potential but may have gaps in academic preparation, who may be first-generation collegians, or who may thrive with extra support.
Seminary Commencement Events
The University of Dubuque Theological Seminary Baccaluareate Service will be held Friday, May 13, at 9:30 a.m. in Blades Chapel. Dr. Elmer Colyer, professor of systematic theology at UDTS, will deliver the sermon, titled “Manipulating Symbols or Participating in Realities.”
The Seminary will confer degrees on 27 students and a certificate on one student – 19 residential and distance master of divinity, one master of arts in missional Christianity, seven doctor of ministry, and one certificate in theological studies – during the Seminary Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 14, at 9:30 a.m. in Heritage Center’s John and Alice Butler Hall.
The Rev. Dr. Bradley J. Longfield, dean and professor of church history at UDTS, will deliver the Seminary’s Commencement address, titled “Finally.”
Longfield, a native of Connecticut, earned his bachelor of arts from Wesleyan University, master of divinity from Yale University, and PhD from Duke University. A teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), he served as a pastor in Indiana and taught at Duke Divinity School before coming to UDTS in 1992. He has served as Dean of the Seminary since 1998. Longfield’s publications include “The Presbyterian Controversy: Fundamentalists,” “Modernists, and Moderates, The Secularization of the Academy,” co-edited with George M. Marsden, and “Presbyterians and American Culture: A History.”
