SAN BERNARDINO>> Though Cal State San Bernardino’s official commencement exercises will be celebrated on June 15 for the Palm Desert Campus at the Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa in Rancho Mirage and June 17 at Citizen’s Business Bank Arena in Ontario, the university will also hold graduation celebrations for various groups on campus.
On Wednesday, June 7, the Office of Services to Students with Disabilities will hold its inaugural graduation celebration for 26 students at 3 p.m. in the university’s Lower Commons. Along with certificates of achievement, students who meet the grade point average requirements will receive honor cords and pins from Delta Alpha Pi National Honor Society for Students with Disabilities.
Beth Jaworski, the assistant vice president for Student Services, will give the opening remarks, alumni Frank Uribe, the 2016 CSUSB Palm Desert Campus distinguished honors graduate, will also provide remarks. Connie McReynolds, director of the university’s Institute of Research, Assessment and Professional Research and a professor of rehabilitation counseling, will give the keynote address.
On June 9, from 5-7 p.m., the CSUSB Veterans Success Center will host the Veterans Graduation Ceremony honoring graduating 76 student veterans. The ceremony will be held at the Obershaw Dining Room in the Upper Commons. Music professor Robert Knop, interim chair of the CSUSB Art Department and a veteran, will give the keynote address.
On June 10, the Association of Latino Faculty, Staff and Students will celebrate its 11th annual Latino Graduation Ceremony at the CSUSB Coussoulis Arena from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nearly 475 students have registered to participate in the ceremony. The keynote speaker is civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez, whose parents were plaintiffs in the landmark Mendez v. Westminster School District (1947) case that paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and ended school segregation in California. On February 15, 2011, President Barack Obama presented Mendez with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Later that day, the Black Faculty, Staff and Student Association will hold the 24th annual Black Graduation and Recognition Ceremony from 4-6 p.m. also at Coussoulis Arena. About 80 students have registered to participate in the celebration which recognizes the achievements of CSUSB African American students with festive musical presentations and a keynote address by Cassandra Butcher, who will graduate in June with a degree in liberal studies. They also will receive a commemorative Kente cloth.
Other groups on campus held graduation recognition events earlier this quarter.
On June 2, the second annual Dreamers Graduation Ceremony acknowledged and celebrated the accomplishments undocumented students. About 35 students participated in the celebration receiving a certificate of accomplishment and a special medallion.
On May 21, the university held the fourth annual Lavender Graduation ceremony, celebrating the LGBTQA community at CSUSB, recognizing the graduates, staff and faculty accomplishments. About 40 graduating student were honored. The keynote speaker was Gabriel Maldonado, founder and CEO TruEvolution, which was founded in 2008 as a response to the growing disparities faced by the LGBT community in the Inland Empire. TruEvolution is dedicated to fighting for LGBT justice and advocating for the prevention and elimination of HIV/AIDS in America.