Summer commencement held in PAC

Julie Larson-Green, chief experience officer for Microsoft’s Applications and Services Group, addressed Western Washington University graduates and their families in two summer commencement ceremonies that took place in Western’s Performing Arts Center Mainstage Aug. 22.

Approximately 360 undergraduates and about 45 master’s candidates received degrees this quarter.

As Carver Gymnasium undergoes a $70 million renovation project, summer, fall and winter commencement ceremonies will be held in the Performing Arts Center Mainstage during the next 18 months to two years. Spring Commencement will be held at Civic Field in Bellingham.

Summer commencement included two ceremonies: At 9 a.m., students graduated from the College of Science and Engineering, the College of Business and Economics, the College of Fine and Performing Arts, Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, the American Cultural Studies Program, Huxley College of the Environment and the Graduate School. The 12:30 p.m. ceremony included graduates of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Woodring College of Education and the Graduate School.

Larson-Green, who spoke at both ceremonies, grew up in Maple Falls and is a 1986 graduate of Western in Business Administration. She has spent more than two decades at Microsoft, leading teams that transformed Microsoft Office and the Windows operating system. Earlier this year, the Anita Borg Institute gave Larson-Green a 2015 Women of Vision Leadership Award, citing her “remarkable ability to unify leaders and teams to a single mission.” She is a former member of the Western Foundation Board of Directors and was a keynote speaker in May at Western’s Leadership Forum in Seattle.

The 9 a.m. ceremony’s student commencement speaker was Aubrey LaPlante, a graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School who received a bachelor of science degree in geology. LaPlante served as a teaching assistant in geology labs and was a member of Western’s rock climbing team. She wants to work in the field of natural hazard mitigation.

The student speaker for the 12:30 p.m. ceremony was Jennifer Lockwood, who received a master of arts in rehabilitation counseling. Lockwood, who received her bachelor’s degree from Western in Human Services in 2000, is the Parenting Skills Program coordinator at Brigid Collins Family Support Center in Bellingham.

All photos by Daniel Levine / for WWU