Community colleges

AUGUSTA – A total of 1,944 college students will graduate from Maine’s seven community colleges at commencement ceremonies around the state this month.

It will be the first graduating class of community college students since the former technical colleges assumed the name and mission of community colleges last summer. Systemwide, the number of graduates is up 16 percent over last year.

Speakers at this year’s commencement exercises, as well as the times and dates, are as follows (locations are on campus unless otherwise noted):

. Central Maine Community College, Auburn, 326 graduates, 2 p.m. Friday, May 14. Speaker: Marguerite Stapleton, vice president for Mission Effectiveness, Sisters of Charity Healthcare Systems.

. Washington County Community College, Calais, 188 graduates, 1 p.m. Friday, May 14. Speaker: Maine Rep. Patrick Colwell, speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. Location: Calais High School.

. Eastern Maine Community College, Bangor, 276 graduates, 1 p.m. Saturday, May 15. Speaker: U.S. Sen. Susan M. Collins. Location: Bangor Auditorium.

. Northern Maine Community College, Presque Isle, 227 graduates, 10 a.m. Saturday, May 15. Speaker: Mark-Tami Hatto, chief engineer of Ford Motor Co.’s Proving Grounds and Test Facilities.

. Southern Maine Community College, South Portland, 471 graduates, two ceremonies: 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, May 15. Speakers: Darcy Wakefield, instructor, SMCC English department, 10 a.m.; Stephen Gotlieb, chair, SMCC Criminal Justice Program, 1 p.m.

. York County Community College, Wells, 91 graduates, 1 p.m. Saturday, May 15. Speaker: U.S. Rep. Tom Allen.

. Kennebec Valley Community College, Fairfield, 365 graduates, 11 a.m. Saturday, May 22. Speaker: Former Maine Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Daniel E. Wathen. Location: Augusta Civic Center.

UMPI graduation May 15

PRESQUE ISLE – John Hatch, founder of the Foundation for International Community Assistance and creator of the Village Banking method of poverty lending, will address the 95th graduating class at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

More than 280 degrees will be conferred at the ceremony, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 15, in Wieden Gymnasium.

An economist with 20 years of experience in international development, Hatch developed FINCA and the Village Banking program as ways for poor people to work their own way out of poverty.

Before FINCA, Hatch was a community development volunteer for Peace Corps Colombia and regional director for Peace Corps Peru.

As a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, he was awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research on his doctoral thesis in Peru.

Unity College graduation

UNITY – Unity College plans its commencement exercises for 1 p.m. Saturday, May 15, at the campus on Quaker Hill Road.

Degrees will be presented to 107 graduates, with a reception immediately afterward on the library lawn.

Misty Edgecomb, environmental and outdoors reporter for the Bangor Daily News, will deliver the keynote address to the graduating class. Special citations will be awarded to Rick Kersbergen, Cooperative Extension educator for Waldo County; Irvin “Buzz” Caverly, director of Baxter State Park; and Edgecomb.

Unity College, which opened in 1966, specializes in baccalaureate programs in environmental sciences, natural resource management and wilderness-based outdoor recreation.

Thomas College graduation

WATERVILLE – Jay Snider, business entrepreneur and former president of the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, will speak at the Thomas College commencement at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 15.

When he was named president of the Flyers in 1983, he became at 26 the youngest person ever to hold that position in major league sports.

Snider serves now as managing partner of Snider Capital, a business specializing in investments in technology for sports and recreation, which he founded.

Snider holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

The commencement will conclude at 2:30 p.m. with a congratulatory reception in the Atrium Lounge of the Student Center.

For more information, call Jane Witham in the Office of Academic Affairs at 859-1362, or go to www.thomas.edu/commencement.

NESCOM graduation

BANGOR – Mary Anne Alhadeff, president and chief executive officer for Maine Public Broadcasting, will address the New England School of Communications graduating Class of 2004 during the commencement at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 15, at Husson College.

Husson College

BANGOR – Husson College will award a record 475 degrees during commencement exercises in Bangor and Portland later this month.

During the 105th commencement exercises beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 15, in Newman Gymnasium at the college in Bangor, 280 undergraduate degrees, 95 master’s degrees and two honorary doctoral degrees will be awarded.

Alan L. Baker, publisher of The Ellsworth American, will be the commencement speaker and will be awarded an honorary doctoral degree in humane letters. Ellen Grant Young will be presented an honorary doctoral degree in business administration.

At a second commencement ceremony on May 22 in Portland, an additional 70 undergraduates and 28 graduate students will be awarded degrees at Woodfords Congregational Church.