Colleges select businessmen for commencements

Missouri State, Drury and Evangel universities, and Ozarks Technical Community College are preparing for graduation ceremonies during which local and state businesspeople will speak.

MSU will confer 2,524 degrees during its May 13 spring commencement at JQH Arena. Of those, 1,863 will be bachelor's degrees, 631 will be master's degrees, 26 will be doctorate degrees and four will be specialist degrees, according to a news release.

Speakers for the MSU commencement will be:

• Rich McClure, president of St. Louis-based global transportation company UniGroup Worldwide, during the 10 a.m. ceremony;
• John Twitty, City Utilities general manager, during the 1:30 p.m. ceremony; and
• Dr. Bert Park, of Lee's Summit, an honorary doctorate recipient who has performed neurosurgery worldwide, during the 5 p.m. ceremony.

Drury University will hold its first commencement ceremonies in the O'Reilly Family Event Center May 14.

The school will present 51 degrees to graduate students and 342 degrees to undergraduates during the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies ceremony at noon, and it will present 251 degrees to undergraduates during the day school graduation at 2:30 p.m., according to a Drury news release.

Drury Board of Trustees member Jack Stack, CEO of SRC Holdings Corp., will speak during both ceremonies.

Troy Paino, president of Truman State University in Kirksville and a 1985 graduate of Evangel University, will deliver Evangel's commencement address during the school's 53rd annual graduation ceremony May 6.

During the ceremony - which will be held 9:30 a.m. at James River Assembly of God in Ozark - the university will confer degrees to 470 graduates, according to an Evangel news release.

Gov. Jay Nixon is scheduled to present the commencement address at Ozarks Technical Community College's spring graduation ceremony May 19.

About 500 students will graduate during the ceremony, which will be held at MSU's JQH Arena, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.
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