More than 700 graduate during fall ceremony

Anne Cooper, vice president for the Sammons Financial Group, addressed Western Washington University graduates and their families at Western’s fall Commencement ceremony Dec. 13 in Carver Gymnasium.

Approximately 681 undergraduates and about 44 master’s candidates received degrees this quarter.

Originally from Tacoma, Cooper graduated from Western in 1986 with a degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology; she continued her studies in this area and earned a Ph.D. from Iowa State University. Cooper, of Ames, Iowa, is a human resources executive in the financial services industry with experience in the United States, Europe and Asia. Now vice president of Human Resources for Sammons Financial Group, Cooper served as head of Human Resources for ING Life in South Korea from 2008 to 2010, and head of Organizational Development and Change for ING in the Netherlands from 2010 to 2011. While at Western, Cooper was co-captain of the Women’s Basketball Team that played in the 1986 national quarterfinals -- and she still holds the team’s record for most blocked shots in a career and in a season.

The ceremony’s student commencement speaker was Shannon Gnagey, who received her bachelor's degree in business administration, with a double concentration in marketing and international business. Gnagey, from Edmonds, studied and completed an internship abroad, founded an Associated Students club devoted to women’s leadership, and interned with Google in New York City.

Following the ceremony, graduates had 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.