Ralph W. Hauenstein will deliver an address titled "A Call to Service and Leadership" during Grand Valley's Spring Commencement ceremonies.
Hauenstein is a former World War II Army colonel and chief intelligence officer, consultant to President Dwight Eisenhower, and city editor of The Grand Rapids Herald. Through a gift from Hauenstein, Grand Valley established the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies in 2001. President Mark A. Murray will honor Hauenstein with an honorary degree, the Doctor of Humane Letters.
New graduates and their families and friends will once again fill the Van Andel Arena this Saturday as Spring Commencement ceremonies take place. The procession begins at 10 a.m. on April 24 at the arena on Fulton Street in downtown Grand Rapids. Faculty and staff planning to participate in the processional should arrive at 9:30 a.m. for robing.
Nearly 1,400 students plan to walk in Saturday's procession, including 250 graduate students. The total number eligible to receive bachelor's and master's degrees this spring tops 2,300.
The nation's top education official, United States Secretary of Education Rod Paige, will also deliver a special address to the graduates. Paige, who was a teacher, coach, university dean, and school district superintendent before being confirmed by the U.S. Senate to his present post in 2001, is uniquely qualified to address students as they stand at the crossroads of school and career.
