Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College President Donald J Laackman conferred 562 associate and bachelor degrees to one of the largest graduating class in the College’s history on Saturday, May 14 under an enormous tent spanning the entire Edmunds School athletic field adjacent to the college. More than 4,000 people attended the 138th annual Commencement ceremony with even more watching the simulcast in the Champlain Room of the CCM Building or online. The college’s 138th Undergraduate Commencement presented honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees to Vermont musician Grace Potter of Waitsfield and noted author Katherine Paterson of Barre.
Honorary Degree recipients musician Grace Potter, left, and author Katherine Paterson share a laugh after receiving their Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from Champlain College. ABOVE Champlain College Class of 2016 grads pose with the College's mascot Chauncey T Beaver at the reception following graduation. (Photos by Stephen Mease)
Author Katherine Paterson was presented with an honorary degree and a citation read by Professor Jim Ellefson: “ ...for decades, you have built bridges connecting young readers to both literature and libraries. Your imagination has allowed readers to explore fantastic new places and discover the power of unexpected friendships. Your honesty has born witness to the challenges associated with “growing up,” while your compassionate narratives validate the feelings and emotions of young adults in Vermont and beyond. You have enabled your readers to understand the importance of being open to those set apart or outcast from society and our responsibility to provide them with hope for a better life. You have been honored with the top awards in literature, including the Newbery Medal, National Book Award, Hans Christian Anderson Award, and named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress. We celebrate your powerful body of work, your lifelong commitment to education and your storytelling skills.”
Grace Potter’s citation was read by Business Professor Thane Butt, “ Grace Potter, you have made a lasting impact on your community by following your dreams and bringing your artistic expression to life. Your music reflects your unique life experiences while simultaneously conveying universal truths and shared experiences. You have embraced your entrepreneurial spirit and charted your own course, reinforcing the importance of individualism and inspiring others to live their own dreams. We honor you for your compassion and commitment to community service. Your willingness to help others, both as an artist and a Vermonter, speaks to your desire to help those in need - whether through a concert to support a flood-devastated community or headlining an event to ease our veterans’ return from war.”
Major Chris Gookin, ‘99, State Public Affairs Officer for the Vermont National Guard, offered the Alumni Welcome to the graduates and their families. Nina Knorr, ‘16, a professional writing major in the Division of Communication and Creative Media delivered the Senior address.
In President Laackman’s address to the graduates, he focusing on the tremendous amount of change they have seen on campus during their four years and the change in themselves.
Mortarboards are tossed into the air at the conclusion of the Champlain College 138th Commencement Saturday in Burlington. Courtesy photo.
“The physical campus itself has undergone significant transformation and has almost always been under construction. I am certain the route you followed when you took your first campus tour is not the same one you use today. You are the first graduating class to enjoy the Center for Communications & Creative Media, a transformative campus space designed to support collaboration and creative thinking. The Finney Quad, from which you began your procession today, was a parking lot your first year. Many of you have lived in Butler and Valcour Halls, which were simply drawings on paper when you considered attending Champlain,” Laackman noted.
And he concluded by offering one last assignment to the graduates “Lift up your spyglass. Stare intently into the future. It is your future to seize. Audeamus. Let us Dare!”
Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college in Burlington, Vermont, with additional campuses in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain offers a traditional undergraduate experience from its beautiful campus overlooking Lake Champlain and more than 60 online undergraduate and graduate degree programs and certificates. Champlain's distinctive career-driven approach to higher education embodies the notion that true learning occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 380 Colleges: 2016 Edition. Champlain College is featured in the "Fiske Guide to Colleges" for 2016 as one of the "best and most interesting schools" in the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Champlain was named the #1 “Most Innovative School” in the North by the U.S. News and World Report’s 2016 “America’s Best Colleges and #14 in the overall list of “Best Regional Colleges in the North. For more information, visit www.champlain.edu.
Champlain College Class of 2016 Graduates from Vermont (by Town)
Albany:
Niles S. Fromm. BFA Graphic Design & Digital Media
Barre:
Anna Jane Prescott. AS Radiography
Carrie A. Stevens. BS Computer Forensics & Digital Investigations
Berlin:
Nicole A. Daniels. BS Integrated Studies
Hunter Gray. BS Management of Creative Media
Bondville:
Arianne Kali Veitch. BS Psychology
Brandon:
Seth A. LaFountain. BS Cybersecurity
Bristol:
Page Y. Hallock. BS Marketing
Adam William Swindell. BS Network Security and Administration
Brownington:
Matthew H. Lyon. BS Psychology
Burlington:
Inna A. Aydinyan. BS International Business, AS Business Management
Mitchell S. Bergeron. BFA Creative Media
Matthew Caulo. BS Integrated Studies
Grace E. Conley. BS Legal Studies
Andrea Craft. BS Computer and Information Systems
R. Benjamin Eley. BS Computer and Information Systems
Dawn R. Elliott. BS Accounting
Charles V. Ferguson. AS Software Development
Katherine Marie Goguen. BS Health Care Administration
Maria M. Jarvis. BSBA Business Administration
Eric Jollymore. BS Computer Forensics and Digital Investigation
Nina M. Knorr. BS Professional Writing
Curran M. McKee. BFA Digital Filmmaking
Richard C. Strous, BS Integrated Studies
Jesse B. Budnick, AS Business Management
Jane Lydia Adams, BFA Graphic Design and Digital Media
Jennifer R. Trombley, BFA Graphic Design and Digital Media
Charles R. Cantin, BS Paralegal
Joshua Kelly, BS Marketing Management
Cabot:
Louise M. Mulligan, AS Radiography
Castleton:
Brenda Lee Spafford, AS Business Management
Chelsea:
Trudy Amber-Dowlin, BS Integrated Studies
Chester:
Gary B. Luman, Jr., BS Accounting
Colchester:
Charles A. Kozlowski, BFA Digital Filmmaking
Holly M. Martin, BS Integrated Studies
Doris S. Reynolds, BS Integrated Studies
Joshua O. St. Hilaire, BS Business Management
Jennifer A. Veronneau, BS Criminal Justice
Elizabeth A. Lemieux, BS Accounting
Tricia L. Phelps, BS Business Management
East Fairfield:
Tina E. Burns, AS Business Management
Ethan Michael Farmer, BS Computer Networking and Information Security
East Hardwick:
Dylan L. Gates, BS Criminal Justice
East Thetford:
Jacob D. Emery, BS Business Management
Enosburg Falls:
Brian J. Marchessault, BS Integrated Studies
Essex:
Peter Orzell, BS Computer Science and Innovation
Michael T. Angel, BS Computer Science and Innovation
Essex Junction:
Adam P. Pasqual, BS Legal Studies
Lisa M. Ashley, BSBA Business Administration
Charles Daniel, BS Network Security and Administration
Christopher C. Diego, BS Computer Information Technology
Jamie K. Favaloro, BSW Social Work
Lisa Marie McGInnis, BS Health Information Technology
Crystal Dawn Nerbak, BS Psychology
Alexandra Danielle Abell Nicasio, AS Radiography
Devin A. Renca, BFA Graphic Design and Digital Media
Hugues A. Ross, BS Game Programming
Joshua R. Sharp, BS Management of Creative Media
Katherine A. Weed, BS Marketing
Kari Ann Trudo, BS Integrated Studies
Shannon Cara Welch, BS Criminal Justice
Meredith J. Hansen, BSBA Business Administration
Fair Haven:
Abigail Egan, BS Health Care Administration
Georgia:
Amy Davenport, AS Business Management
Grand Isle:
Linda S. Phypers, BS Health Care Management
Hartford:
Emilie E. Donka, BS Integrated Studies
Hinesburg:
Scott K. Barrett, BS Computer and Digital Forensics
Matthew R. Sacco, BS Professional Writing
Sara Noelle Stancliffe, BS Secondary Education – English
Island Pond:
Alexander O. Acebo, BS Computer Science and Innovation
Cara M. Worth, BS Health Care Administration
Jamaica:
Kevin M. Ameden, BS Accounting
Jason W. Bean, BS Health Information Technology
Jeffersonville:
Ashley N. McClain, BS Health Care Administration
Jericho:
Joseph T. Freitas, BS Accounting
Christopher R. Miller, BS Management of Creative Media
Dakotah R. Patnode, BS Early Childhood/Elementary Education
Marshfield:
Natalia C. Singh, BS Psychology
Middlebury:
Cody Mannigan, BFA Graphic Design and Digital Media
Middlesex:
Brendan D. Grahn, BS Marketing
Milton:
Brandon E. Beliveau, BS Criminal Justice
Kayla M. Bushey, BS Accounting
Dennis G. Hamel, BS Integrated Studies
Tammie L. Conner, BS Integrated Studies
Robert A. Wilson, BS Computer Forensics & Digital Investigations
Inayatullah Yuridullah, BS Accounting
Michael Joseph Moshovetis, AS Business Management
Shawn P. Burke, BS Integrated Studies
Montpelier:
Gail Barrows, BS Integrated Studies
Morrisville:
Ian F. Sudol, BS Game Art and Animation
New Haven:
Kellie J. Coakley, BS Psychology
Stephen E. Williams, BS Accounting
Newport:
Megan E. Marquissee, BS Health Care Administration
Newport Center:
Paige M. Leonard, AS Radiography
Daniel F. McLean, BS Game Programming
Brent Patenaude, BS Game Design
North Bennington:
Dale Jameson Lampman, BFA Digital Filmmaking
North Hero:
Matthew J Surprenant, BS Information Security
North Springfield:
Kylie Amanda Bellows, AS Radiography
Northfield:
Walter W. Weaver, BS Game Art and Animation
Orleans:
Tyler J. Leno, BS Computer and Digital Forensics
Proctor:
Matthew L. Scarzello, BS Communication
Quechee:
Katherine E. Clemens, BS Psychology
Readsboro:
William B. Zboray, BS Communication
Richmond:
Lyndsey N. Hobart, BS Psychology
Elizabeth Hemingway Lane, BS Early Childhood/Elementary Education
Miranda Kate Haskell, BS Psychology
William Scott Reed, BS Web Site Development & Design
Rochester:
Rhianna A. Graham-Frock BS Communication
Kelsey E. Keown BSBA Business Administration
Rutland:
Joseph T. Palumbo II, BFA Digital Filmmaking
Jessica Santini, BS Integrated Studies
Peggy A. Campney, AS Accounting
St Albans:
Elizabeth Bockus, BS Early Childhood/Elementary Education
Hanah Kelly, BS Legal Studies
Travis A. Vigneau, BS Network Security and Administration
Hadley I. Priebe, BS Communication
Shelburne:
Andrew C. Esposito, BS Game Programming
Jay E. Guyette, BS Integrated Studies
Geralynn Thornton, AS Health Informatics
Sidney T. Miller V, BSBA Business Administration
Sheldon:
Marissa N. Forcier, AS Radiography
South Burlington:
Jason F. Ehlers, BS Computer Forensics & Digital Investigations
Kandice G. Greenough, BS Health Care Administration
Selena E. LeClair, BS Public Relations
Steven D. Macomber, BSBA Business Administration
Aline A. Oliveira, BSW Social Work
Mrs. Rodica Timbalari, BS Accounting
Joshua M. Franklin, BS Business Management
Samuel J. McCarthy, BS Marketing
Samantha Lynn Prince, BS Health Care Management
South Hero:
Megan E. Bessette, BS Early Childhood/Elementary Education
Starksboro:
Lisa S. Wener, AS Accounting
Stowe:
Rebecca M. Merson, BS Psychology
Jacqueline Stafford, BS Communication
Swanton:
David M. Beaulieu, BS Business Management
Joanne M. Saunders, BSW Social Work
Jorie Rose Spaulding, BS Marketing
Kayleigh Vespa BS Marketing
Eli J. Yandow AS Radiography
Underhill:
Levi E. Heh, BS Computer Information Technology
Vergennes:
Monica D. Birchmore, BS Accounting
Wallingford:
Kathleen M. Sharon, BS Psychology
West Glover:
Joseph E. Morrill, BS Computer Science and Innovation
Westford:
Theresa I. Gwozdz, BS Early Childhood/Elementary Education
Christin E. Young, BS Health Care Management
Weston:
Oliver H. Fischer, BFA Graphic Design & Digital Media
Williston:
William Richard Brooks, BS Accounting
Kody A. Corbosiero, BS Game Art and Animation
Benjamin D. Drinkwine, BS Accounting
Maxwell M. Erickson, BFA Digital Filmmaking
Amanda J. Hollick, BS Game Art and Animation
Nicholas J. Ledak, BFA Graphic Design & Digital Media
Brian C. Letourneau, BS Computer Networking & Cybersecurity
Noah Jeffrey Limanek, BFA Graphic Design & Digital Media
Shawna M. Pratt, AS Business Management
Kristian J. Riley, BS Criminal Justice
Shannon E. Ryan, BSBA Business Administration
Elliot H. Schneider, BFA Graphic Design & Digital Media
Sophia L. Steinhoff, BS Computer and Digital Forensics
Emily M. Young, BS Public Relations
Todd J. Young, BS Health Information Technology
Matthew Robert Snelling, AS Web Design and Development
Taylor J. Roberts, BSBA Business Administration
Winooski:
Angela E. Menard, BSW Social Work
Tyler G. Whitlock, BS Computer Science and Innovation
Woodstock:
Hailey A. Neal, BS Professional Writing
END
Source: BURLINGTON, VT (May 14, 2016) – Champlain College