Western Washington University will graduate about 460 students Saturday in Summer Commencement ceremony

BELLINGHAM – Western Washington University Distinguished Alumnus Michael Cox, a longtime Environmental Protection Agency official, will address WWU graduates and their families at the summer commencement ceremony Aug. 24 at 9:45 a.m. in Carver Gymnasium.

About 420 undergraduate and 40 master’s students are expected to graduate from Western summer quarter. There will be one ceremony for all graduates and no tickets are required to attend the ceremony in Carver Gymnasium. Overflow seating will be available on campus.

Cox, the main speaker, is a 1981 environmental science graduate and a 2019 Distinguished Alumnus of Huxley College of the Environment. He has spent more than three decades working on environmental issues, including 10 years at the EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., working on drinking water safety and other environmental challenges. He also served in the EPA’s northwest region on keeping toxins out of the Puget Sound and the Columbia River, and on incorporating climate change into all the agency’s work in the region. In addition, Cox’s career included time with the Peace Corps in Malawi and with UNICEF in Togo. He retired from the EPA in 2017, then worked for a short time in Saudi Arabia helping to develop a climate change action plan for the country.

Also speaking at the ceremony will be Mosiah Wilson, who is earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Wilson, a father of three who lives in Stanwood, plans to continue his education to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.  

Doors to Carver open at 9 a.m., 45 minutes before the ceremony, and all guests should be seated five minutes before the scheduled start.

Overflow seating will be available adjacent to Carver in Western’s Science Math and Technology Education building, where the ceremony will be shown on large screens. The ceremony will also be streamed live at www.ustream.tv/channel/wwu-live-events1.

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 accessible and individually reserved spaces. Visitors are also advised to arrive early to avoid traffic congestion and to allow for travel time between the parking lots and Carver.

Shuttle bus service will be available from the 12A parking lot off South College Drive from 8 a.m. to noon or until there is no demand. One of the shuttle buses will be ADA-equipped and will accommodate two wheelchairs. Guests who use wheelchairs may also park in lot 17G and 11G, which will be reserved for accessible parking.

Parking attendants will be available to assist guests with special parking needs.

For more information or for disability accommodations contact the Registrar’s Office, commencement@wwu.edu.