More than 550 to graduate Saturday, March 22
Pauline “Polly” Dyer, a tireless advocate for wilderness preservation, will receive Western’s honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Western’s winter Commencement ceremony, which starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 22 in Carver Gymnasium.
Murray Dow II, president and CEO of The Dow Hotel Co. in Seattle, will give the commencement address. Dow is a 1970 graduate of Western and a 2013 Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Business and Economics.
Graduating senior Alex Huerta, a Theatre major from Palo Alto, Calif., will give the student Commencement address.
Approximately 548 undergraduates and about 28 master’s candidates will receive degrees this quarter. Winter Commencement includes all majors, and only one ceremony will take place. Admission is by ticket only, and each graduate will be allowed five tickets.
For guests without tickets, the ceremony will be displayed on large viewing screens in the Science, Mathematics and Technology Education (SMATE) building. Off campus, the ceremony will be broadcast on Whatcom County Comcast Cable Channel 26, and streamed live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wwu-live-events1.
Dyer is a Seattle conservationist and environmentalist who has spent more than 60 years working to preserve the state of Washington’s wilderness. Her grassroots organizing and lobbying efforts contributed to several environmental milestones, including the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act, the creation of North Cascades National Park, the expansion of Olympic National Park, and the preservation of millions of acres of wilderness areas. Working with Gov. Dan Evans, Dyer helped to get legislation to add the coastal strip to Olympic National Park. In 1984, she worked again with U.S. Sen. Evans to help write the legislation to protect 95 percent of Olympic National Park under the Wilderness Act. In addition to her grassroots organizing and lobbying work, Dyer is credited with mentoring and encouraging generations of environmentalists.
Dow, the Commencement speaker, graduated from Western with a degree in Economics and History. He leads a hotel management and investment firm that owns 11 upscale hotels and resorts, including the Hilton Hotel in Bellevue, and manages eight other properties across the United States. He founded The Dow Hotel Co. in 1998 after nearly 30 years in the hospitality industry, including executive positions with the Ritz Carlton in Chicago and the Four Seasons in San Francisco, and as chief of operations at HEI Hotels in Westport, Conn. Dow is also a member of Western’s College of Business and Economics advisory board and a former president of the advisory board for the CBE Center for Innovation in Education.
The ceremony’s student Commencement speaker will be Alex Huerta, who will receive his Bachelor of Arts degree Saturday in Theatre, with an emphasis in Design and Technology. Huerta designed sound and lighting for several theatrical productions at Western, including “Rent,” and “Twelfth Night,” and worked as an intern at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico and at the PCPA Theaterfest in Santa Maria, Calif.
Following the ceremony, graduates will have the opportunity to follow WWU tradition and deposit their Western identification cards in a box that is later cemented into Memory Walk in front of Old Main.
Guest parking is free on Commencement day and available in most lots. Visitors must observe regulations for handicapped and individually reserved spaces. Guests are advised to arrive early to avoid traffic congestion and to allow for travel time between the parking lots and gym.
Shuttle bus service will be available from the 12A parking lot off Bill McDonald Parkway near Fairhaven College from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The shuttle buses cannot accommodate wheelchairs; guests in wheelchairs may park in designated lots behind Miller Hall and Arntzen Hall.
Parking attendants will be available to assist guests with special parking needs.
For more information or for disability accommodations contact the Registrar’s Office, 360-650-3701.