A National Geographic Fellow who is a 2000 alum of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will address graduates and their families at the spring Commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 18.
Corey Jaskolski, founder and CEO of RAIC Labs and world traveler with National Geographic, will speak to more than 1,200 graduates from the three UW-Stevens Point campuses. Ceremonies will be held at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Skyward Fieldhouse in Marshfield Clinic Health Systems Champions Hall, 2050 Fourth Ave., Stevens Point.
Ceremonies will be held by academic colleges to award doctoral, master’s, bachelor’s and associates degrees. For a full schedule and information, go to www.uwsp.edu/commencement.
Chancellor Thomas Gibson will lead the ceremonies with the assistance of Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs La Vonne Cornell-Swanson. Deans of the four academic colleges will preside over presentations of degrees.
The student speaker for the 9:30 a.m. ceremony is Dominick Reyes, Edgerton, a bachelor’s degree candidate in social work and sociology. At 2 p.m., the student speaker is McKayla Martens, Marshfield, a bachelor’s degree candidate in elementary education. Alumni couple Amy (2005) and Sam Dinga (2004 and 2010) will lead the alumni pinning ceremonies.
For the 9:30 a.m. ceremony, bachelor of music candidate Christopher Eaton, Racine, will sing the national anthem and bachelor of fine arts candidate Kaia Fitzgerald, St. Paul, Minn., will sing the Alma Mater. At 2 p.m., the national anthem and Alma Mater will be sung by junior music education and performance major Meredith Johnson, Oshkosh. Soloists will be accompanied by the UW-Stevens Point Symphony Orchestra, directed by Andy Moran, associate professor of music.
Each ceremony will last approximately two-and-a-half hours and will be livestreamed at the commencement website for those unable to attend. Guests may park in any campus lot for free except for Lot F West, which will be used for handicap access.
Jaskolski is an explorer and engineer who has designed, built and deployed technologies that accelerate exploration, conservation and security efforts across the globe. He has founded several engineering companies and currently works with artificial intelligence technology for medical, conservation and geospatial applications. He has been honored with the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year Award and the UW-Stevens Point Alumni Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from UW-Stevens Point and a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.