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Elder David A. Bednar to oversee BYU Commencement Exercises April 24

Individual college convocations will take place throughout April 25

Elder David A. Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is scheduled to be the presiding authority and speaker during Brigham Young University’s April 2008 Commencement Exercises Thursday, April 24, at 4 p.m. in the Marriott Center.

Elder Cecil O. Samuelson, president of BYU and member of the Quorum of the Seventy of the Church, Elder W. Rolfe Kerr, Church Commissioner of Education and a former member of the Quorum of the Seventy, and representatives from the BYU Board of Trustees and administration will be present at the ceremony.

Matthew Daley, a native of Manteca, Calif., and an honors graduate in accounting, will be the student speaker, and the new president of the BYU Alumni Association, Bruce L. Olsen, will also speak. The BYU Singers under the direction of Ronald Staheli will provide music for the event.

The exercises will be broadcast live on KBYU-TV (Channel 11) and KBYU-FM (89.1).

Graduates will meet at 3 p.m. in the Abraham Smoot Building parking lot prior to the processional while parents and family should be seated in the Marriott Center by 3:45 p.m. Doors will open at 3 p.m. The graduate processional will begin at 3:15 p.m.

Most campus offices will close on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. to accommodate the services.

Members of the BYU community are reminded that no parking will be available from midnight Wednesday, April 23, until 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in Lot 1A north of the Administration Building and in a small portion of the timed parking Lot 2A north of the Hinckley Center. Vehicles parked in those locations during those hours will be towed.

All faculty members are invited to march in the processional at 3:15 p.m. Faculty should be on either the east or west side of the ASB by 3:10 p.m. In the event of inclement weather, faculty should go directly to the Marriott Center by 3:45 p.m. Line marshals will direct faculty to reserved chair seating on the playing floor.

BYU’s Air Force ROTC will hold its commissioning ceremony on Thursday at 11 a.m. in the Varsity Theater where 17 cadets will be commissioned. On Friday, Dean Ned Hill of the Marriott School of Management will be the speaker at this year’s commissioning of ten Army ROTC cadets at 5 p.m. in 214 Crabtree Building.

On Friday, April 25, the “Meet the President” event, where President Samuelson and his wife, Sharon, will meet and greet the graduates and their guests, will take place from 9-11 a.m. in the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center.

Friday’s individual college convocations are as follows:

8 a.m. — College of Family, Home and Social Sciences in the Marriott Center; McKay School of Education in the Smith Fieldhouse; David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies in the Joseph Smith Building Auditorium; College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in the Wilkinson Center Ballroom; College of Fine Arts and Communications (communications) in the de Jong Concert Hall; and the College of Engineering and Technology (technology) in the Provo Tabernacle.

11 a.m. — College of Life Sciences in the Marriott Center; College of Engineering and Technology (engineering) in the Smith Fieldhouse; College of Nursing in the Joseph Smith Building Auditorium; College of Family, Home and Social Sciences (family life) in the Wilkinson Center Ballroom; and Fine Arts and Communications (visual arts) in the de Jong Concert Hall.

2 p.m. — Marriott School of Management in the Marriott Center; College of Health and Human Performance in the Smith Fieldhouse; College of Family, Home and Social Sciences (social work) in the Wilkinson Center Ballroom; College of Fine Arts and Communications (music, theatre and media arts) in the de Jong Concert Hall; and the J. Reuben Clark Law School in the Provo Tabernacle.

5 p.m. — College of Humanities in the Marriott Center.

All candidates participating in commencement are expected to conform to BYU standards of dress and grooming, whether the candidate is a current BYU student or a former student returning to receive his or her degree.

Graduates and their guests are asked not to use cellular phones during commencement and convocation exercises.

For more information, visit graduation.byu.edu.

Writer: David Luker

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Photo by Mark A. Philbrick/BYU Photo

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