Saturday: Roughly 600 students to receive degrees this quarter; alum Hoyt Gier to speak at commencement
Hoyt Gier, a vice president with Goldman Sachs & Co. in Seattle, will address the winter commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 20, in Carver Gymnasium.
Approximately 556 undergraduates and 40 master’s candidates will receive degrees this quarter. Winter commencement includes all majors, and only one ceremony will take place.
Admission into the gymnasium will require a ticket. Each undergraduate and master’s candidate who has signed up to participate in the ceremony will be issued six tickets. Tickets are not required for guests who wish to watch the live televised ceremony in Science, Mathematics and Technology Education (SMATE) building room 150. Comcast will broadcast the ceremony in Whatcom County on Channel 26.
The ceremony’s main speaker, Hoyt Gier, helped establish the Seattle offices of Goldman Sachs about a decade ago and is now a leader in the company’s wealth management group. He is also immediate past president of the Western Washington University Foundation and a member of the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame.
Gier, a Ferndale native, became more involved with his alma mater after earning his Master’s in Business Administration degree from Dartmouth College in 1999. He plans to tell graduates about the importance of being “fully engaged” in whatever they’re passionate about.
Winter commencement’s student speaker will be graduating senior Alexis Aippersbach, who will receive a Bachelor of Arts degree with two majors, Marketing and Spanish. A graduate of Seattle’s Roosevelt High School, Aippersbach plans to travel to South America or Spain after graduation to gain work experience abroad.
Following commencement, graduates will proceed toward the stage for the memory walk, where they will pass through a corridor of faculty and the President’s party to deposit their Western identification cards in a time capsule.
Commencement parking is available at no cost in most lots. Visitors must observe regulations for handicapped and individually reserved spaces. Lot 14G will be reserved for faculty and staff. A shuttle service will be available from the tent in lot 12A off Bill McDonald Parkway near Fairhaven College to Carver Gym. The shuttle cannot accommodate wheelchairs. Guests in wheelchairs may park in Lot 17G on East College Way. Parking attendants will be available to assist guests with special parking needs.
For more information or for disability accommodations contact the Registrar’s Office, (360) 650-3985.