May 3, 2004

Cowley to graduate its largest class ever on Saturday

More than 600 students will be candidates for graduation Saturday when Cowley County Community College holds its 81st commencement exercises.

This year’s graduation will take place in two ceremonies, both inside the Robert Brown Theatre inside the Brown Center for Arts, Sciences and Technology on the main campus in Arkansas City. Students receiving associate of arts degrees will participate in a 10 a.m. ceremony, while students receiving associate of applied science, associate of science, associate of general studies or the college certificate will participate in a 2 p.m. ceremony.

A reception for graduates and their families will be held immediately following both ceremonies.

This year’s commencement was relocated to the Brown Center because the south lobby of W.S. Scott Auditorium is being renovated. That work is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 1. And since the Brown Theatre seats 788, commencement was divided into two ceremonies. Audience members who are not seated in the theatre may sit in an overflow in the Earle N. Wright Community Room where they will be able to watch the proceedings on a big screen. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Warren Koeller, a 1960 graduate of Arkansas City Junior College, will be presented the Outstanding Tiger Alumni Award during the 10 a.m. ceremony.

Dejon Ewing, who chairs the Humanities Department and teaches in that area, will deliver the address to the students at 10 a.m. She was the first recipient of the Endowed Chair for Teaching Excellence and Student Learning.

Michelle Schoon, who chairs the Natural Science Department and teaches in that area, will deliver the address to the students at 2 p.m. She was the second recipient of the Endowed Chair for Teaching Excellence and Student Learning.

Trent James, Student Government Association vice president, will give the welcome at 10 a.m., while Chris Craft, SGA president, will give the welcome at 2 p.m.

Two faculty members will be recognized during the ceremonies. Uwe Conrad, math instructor at the Southside Education Center in Wichita, received the Paul Stirnaman Award for 2003-2004 last August, and Pam Smith, Natural Science Department instructor on the main campus, was selected in January as the fourth recipient of the Endowed Chair for Teaching Excellence and Student Learning.

Lance Carrithers, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Arkansas City, will deliver the invocation and benediction.

Six-hundred five students will be candidates for graduation, according to the Registrar’s Office.

Ewing, the 10 a.m. speaker, holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, where she studied speech and theatre education. She has been a full-time Cowley faculty member since fall 1989, and is a Master Teacher Award recipient from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development in Austin, Texas.

In 1998, following a generous donation to the college by the First National Bank of Winfield, she was named the first Endowed Chair for Teaching Excellence and Student Learning.

She teaches Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communications, and Theatre Appreciation.

Schoon holds a bachelor’s degree in biology education from Bethany College, and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Wichita State University. Prior to coming to Cowley as a part-time instructor in 1990, she taught at Peabody-Burns, Great Bend, and Topeka Washburn Rural high schools.

She has been a full-time Cowley faculty member since fall 1994, and is a Master Teacher Award recipient from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development in Austin, Texas.

She is a member of the National and Kansas associations of biology teachers, as well as the National Education Association and the Kansas branch of the same organization. In 2000, she was named the second Endowed Chair for Teaching Excellence and Student Learning at Cowley. This year, she is listed in Who’s Who Among American Teachers.

She is chair of Cowley’s Natural Science Department and teaches General Botany, Anatomy and Physiology, Principles of Biology and Zoology. She also serves as head of the college’s North Central accreditation committee.