Posted: Monday, April 29, 2013

The University of Evansville will award 595 degrees to 579 graduating students during the 155th Commencement ceremony, which will begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4 at the Ford Center in downtown Evansville.

The 2013 graduating class is the largest in over a decade. In addition, more than one-third of this year’s graduates have earned Latin honors by earning a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher.

The ceremony will feature UE’s second annual Senior Keynote address, a tradition implemented last year in place of a Commencement speaker from outside the campus community. This year’s speaker will be Mellinda S. Hensley, a communication and writing major from Linton, Indiana.

At UE, Hensley has worked for the student-produced Crescent magazine for four years, serving as the writing director her junior and senior years. She also has been involved in student activities such as Kappa Chi and the Student Writers of Indiana Program. In 2012, Hensley’s short story “Ribbon” was awarded the Cowgill Award in Creative Writing, a $1,000 prize given in honor of Major and Mrs. George Cowgill. Hensley’s work has also been published in The Boiler Journal and reviewed in The Review Review.

In the fall, she will attend the University of Southern California, where she will pursue a Master of Professional Writing degree with the goal of becoming a writing professor.

The 155th Commencement ceremony also will feature the presentation of the University of Evansville Alumni Association’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year award, as well as the Outstanding Senior Service Awards.

For those who cannot attend Commencement in person, a video of the ceremony will stream live online at www.evansville.edu/commencement/live.cfm. The recorded video will be posted on this page the week after Commencement.

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