Ceremony Videos - 9 a.m. | 1 p.m.
McKenzie Ferguson, PharmD, associate professor in the School of Pharmacy and SIUE’s 2017 Teaching Excellence Award winner addressed the morning ceremony, which featured the Graduate School, and the Schools of Business, Nursing, and Education, Health and Human Behavior.
Megan Gilbert was the morning student speaker. She earned a master’s in college student personnel administration. She began by quoting Albert Einstein, “I have no special talent, I am only passionately curious.”
Special guest speaker Col. Marc Packler, commander, 375th Communications Group, Scott Air Force Base (SAFB), addressed the afternoon exercise, which featured the Graduate School, College of Arts and Sciences, and School of Engineering. Packler was appearing in honor of SAFB’s 100th anniversary and delivered a motivational speech on leadership.
Jack Glassman, PhD, associate professor and chair of the Department of Physics in College of Arts and Sciences, is the 2017 Great Teacher Award recipient as selected by the SIUE Alumni Association. He provided the commencement address during the afternoon ceremony and focused upon one of history’s most famous teachers, the Greek philosopher Socrates. Glassman thinks every teacher has looked to Socrates as a source of inspiration at some point.
Alex Myers was the afternoon student speaker. He earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from the School of Engineering. Myers spoke of attaining grit as one of his positive collegiate experiences.
Read more about SIUE Fall Commencement in SIUE News
