UW–Platteville will host its 195th commencement ceremony in Williams Fieldhouse Saturday.
The College of Business, Industry, Life Science and Agriculture and graduate students’ ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. The College of Liberal Arts and Education and College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science students’ ceremony will be held at 2 p.m.
The morning ceremony will include 247 BILSA undergraduate candidates and 107 graduate candidates from the School of Graduate Studies.
Ariel Hellenbrand, an ag business major from Lodi, has been selected to give the senior speaker address. Timothy L. Christen, a 1981 accounting
alumnus and current chairman and CEO of Baker Tilley Virchow Krause, a public accounting firm, has been selected as the principal speaker.
Capt. Matthew J. Holler and Matt Larse will be recognized as the College of BILSA outstanding alumni. Holler, a 2005 alumnus, graduated with a biology degree and is currently serving as a general officer’s aide at the Mission Command Center of Excellence at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Larse, a 2006 alumnus, graduated with a degree in animal science and is currently the senior vice president — director of agricultural banking at Town Bank in Hartland.
College of BILSA valedictorians are Ross Johnson, double majoring in physiology and biology with an emphasis in bio-health from Appleton, and Kallie Kiesow, an agriculture education major from Waterloo.
After serving 37 years at the university, Deb Putnam has been selected as this ceremony’s marshal.
The afternoon ceremony will feature 165 candidates from the College of LAE and 188 candidates from the College of EMS.
Brett Kramer, a civil engineering major from Austin, Minn., will deliver the senior speaker address. Carol Weber, a 1989 alumna who graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and currently works as a senior engineering project team leader in product development and global technology for Caterpillar, Inc. in Mossville, Ill., will serve as the principal speaker.
Matt Heer and Douglas Stephens will be recognized as the outstanding alumni for this ceremony. Heer, a 2003 alumnus, graduated with a degree in mathematics with an emphasis in secondary education and currently is a science teacher at Platteville High School. Stephens, a 2001 alumnus, graduated with a degree in industrial engineering before returning to earn a degree in business administration through the Distance Education Program in 2004. He currently serves as the senior campus planner for the university.
This ceremony’s valedictorians are Tyler Stephens, a criminal justice major with an emphasis in law enforcement from Nekoosa, and Celeste A. Lawinger, a psychology major from Ogden, Utah.
Dianne M. Hanten, who holds emeritus status as associate registrar at the university following her retirement in March, will serve as this ceremony’s marshal.
