Students to walk in two UHV commencement ceremonies
Close to 400 University of Houston-Victoria students are expected to participate in two graduation ceremonies on Saturday.
The ceremonies will take place at Faith Family Church, 2002 E. Mockingbird Lane, the largest indoor facility available in Victoria. A 9 a.m. ceremony will be for students graduating from the schools of Arts & Sciences and Education & Human Development. A 1 p.m. ceremony will be for those graduating from the schools of Business Administration and Nursing.
Award-winning author Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, the Ellen Clayton Garwood Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, will deliver the commencement address at both ceremonies.
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| Phil Castille |
“Saturday marks a special day for our graduating students and their friends and families,” UHV President Phil Castille said. “I know that Dr. Hinojosa-Smith and UHV faculty and staff are looking forward to helping them mark this momentous occasion.”
UHV Faculty Senate President Keith Akins will serve as the grand marshal during the ceremonies. The deans of UHV’s four schools will award students diplomas during their respective ceremonies, and Castille will confer the degrees. Outstanding students for the spring semester also will be recognized, along with faculty members receiving awards for excellence in teaching, research and service.
The Honorable Roger Welder, a Victoria resident who serves on the UH System Board of Regents, will bring greetings on behalf of the board. John Antel, UH System senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost, also will address the audience at both ceremonies.
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| Rolando Hinojosa-Smith |
Hinojosa-Smith’s works include the 15-volume Klail City Death Trip series set in a fictional South Texas county. The most recent volume in the series is “We Happy Few,” published in 2006.
Among the many writing honors for Hinojosa-Smith is the 2007 Bookend Award for Ongoing Literary Achievement. He was the first Hispanic author to receive the prestigious Premio Casa de las Américas award for “Klail City y sus alrededores,” which is part of the Klail City Death Trip series.
Following both commencement ceremonies, receptions for graduates and their guests will take place in the UHV University Center, 3007 N. Ben Wilson St.
The UHV School of Nursing also will have a pinning ceremony for its graduates at 3 p.m. Saturday at Faith Family Church. Students graduating from the Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and the Master of Science in Nursing programs will receive special pins.
The speaker for the pinning ceremony will be Mary Virginia Jacobs, a retired nurse from Victoria, who previously served as president of the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners.
For more information about UHV commencement, contact special events coordinator Nancy Gresham at 361-570-4351 or greshamn@uhv.edu.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
