Dixie State College of Utah Commencement to be held May 1, 2009

Dixie State College of Utah will hold its 98th-annual Commencement Exercises on Friday, May 1st, at 6 p.m., at the Burns Arena. U.S. Congressman Jim Matheson will be the serve as commencement speaker.

DSC will be graduating class it largest Baccalaureate Degree class as over 280 students will be receiving their Bachelor’s Degree. In addition, DSC will be honoring retiring faculty members Dr. Ronald Garner, Dr. Nolan Ashman, and Professor Jay Slade, who combined have nearly 130 years of service to the institution.

Dixie State College of Utah has also announced who will represent the graduating class of 2009 as Valedictorians at the College’s 98th Commencement Exercises next Friday, May 1, at the Avenna Center Burns Arena. 
 
Diana Stanley, a senior English major from St. George, will serve as the Baccalaureate Degree Valedictorian commencement speaker, while Angela Watts, sophomore communication major from Sandy, Utah, will represent the class as Associate Degree Valedictorian commencement speaker. 
 




























































Stanley is one of the many non-traditional students benefitting from Dixie State College’s new four-year degrees. She earned her Associate of Arts degree with highest honors from DSC in 2008, and will be receiving her Bachelor of Science in English with an emphasis in professional and technical writing. Stanley’s academic achievements include being named Student of the Semester for English/Professional and Technical Writing, earning the English/Professional and Technical Writing department scholarship, and membership in Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society. She has presented papers at the Sigma Tau Delta International Conference, the Wooden O Symposium at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, the DSC Dixie Forum, and the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research. Her writings have appeared in the Dixie State Magazine, The Journal of the Wooden O Symposium, The Southern Quill and many other local publications.
 
Watts is a non-traditional disabled student who is currently working towards a bachelor degree in communication. Though she has struggled with her health for most of her life, she knows an education is her key to freedom from the disability system and, in her words, a life in which she is a fiercely loyal contributing member of society. Over the last two years, she has been honored to receive a number of campus awards, including the Student of the Semester award in communication, Superior Academic Performance recognition from TRiO, an Award of Excellence for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement from Student Support Services, and the communication department’s Student of the Year award. In addition, she serves as the vice president of DSC’s Americans with Disabilities Act Club.
 
The Valedictorian award is judged not only upon grades, but difficulty of courses completed. The recipient must have a cumulative GPA of 3.90 to 4.00.

Dixie State’s 2009 commencement exercises will begin at 6 p.m., with United States Congressman Jim Matheson (D-Utah) serving as commencement speaker. Graduates will march from DSC’s Old Gym down the palm-lined walkway to the Burns Arena beginning at 5:30 p.m. The community is invited to participate in all commencement activities.

The annual President’s Reception and Graduate Luncheon will be held earlier that day from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the DSC Gardner Center Ballroom. The luncheon is free to graduates, while extra tickets may be purchased for $11 for adults, $7 for children 12-under. Luncheon tickets are available at the DSC Avenna Center Ticket Office or by call 435-652-7800. For more DSC Commencement information on, please visit new.dixie.edu/commencement.