Graduations slated across state this weekend

Commencement ceremonies for thousands of graduates at universities and community colleges across the state will be held this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

A total of 2,027 college students will graduate from Maine’s seven community colleges at commencement ceremonies this weekend, beginning Friday with Central Maine Community College in Auburn and Washington County Community College in Calais. Maine Gov. John Baldacci will address the 355 graduates on the Auburn campus at 2 p.m., while state Sen. Kevin Raye will address 180 graduates from WCCC at 11 a.m. at Calais High School.

Two ceremonies will be held for the 300 graduates of Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor on Saturday, both at EMMC’s Johnston Gymnasium. Dr. John Fitzsimmons, president of the Maine Community College System will speak at the 9:30 a.m. ceremony, while Gov. Baldacci will address the graduates at the 1 p.m. event.

Nick Bayne, president and chief executive officer of Maine & Maritimes Corp., will be commencement speaker for the 225 graduates of Northern Maine Community College in a ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday on the Presque Isle campus.

The 80 graduates of York County Community College will hear from Joel Stevens, president and chief executive officer of Kennebunk Savings Bank, during a ceremony that will begin at 1 p.m. at that school’s Wells campus.

U.S. Reps. Michael Michaud and Tom Allen will speak at separate commencements Sunday, with Michaud addressing 387 graduates of Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield at 2 p.m. at the Augusta Civic Center; and Allen speaking to 500 graduates of Southern Maine Community College in South Portland at noon at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Husson College is planning its first outdoor ceremony for its 106th commencement, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Winkin Sports Complex. Husson alumnus and bank executive Robert D. O’Donnell will address the graduates. The college will award 233 undergraduate degrees and 117 master’s degrees in Bangor. At a second commencement ceremony Saturday, May 22, at Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland, the college will present degrees to another 121 undergraduates and 22 graduate students. W. Tom Sawyer Jr., chairman of the Husson board of trustees, will deliver the commencement address at this event.

The focus will be on the environment Saturday, May 14, at Unity College, where Naomi Schalit, executive director of Maine Rivers, will serve as commencement speaker. A procession of graduates, faculty, staff and honored guests will begin a ceremonial march up Murdock Drive to the gym at 1 p.m. The ceremony is expected to conclude at 2:30 p.m., to be followed by a reception on the lawn outside Quimby Library.

More than 300 degrees will be conferred during commencement exercises Saturday at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Tom Ewell, executive director of the Maine Council of Churches, will address the 96th graduating class during the ceremony that will start at 10:30 a.m. in Wieden Gymnasium.

Bill Green, whose 30-year television career spans the medium from sportscaster to documentary producer, will be the guest speaker at the 23rd annual commencement exercises of the New England School of Communications, an affiliate of Husson College, on Saturday, May 14. The ceremonies are scheduled for 4 p.m. at Newman Gymnasium on the Husson campus. Green is producer and host for the documentary series “Bill Green’s Maine,” which airs at 7 p.m. Saturdays on Channel 6 in Portland and Channel 2 in Bangor.

Dr. Carolyn Reed – Farmington native, nationally recognized cardiothoracic surgeon and director of Clinical Affairs at Hollings Cancer Center in South Carolina – will be keynote speaker Saturday during the 152nd commencement ceremony at the University of Maine at Farmington. About 375 members of the graduating class will take part in the exercises, which will be held outdoors beginning at 10:30 a.m. behind the Olsen Student Center. In case of bad weather, the event will be moved inside UMF’s Health and Fitness Center.

The director of Women’s Leadership at Manhattanville College in New York, Michaela Walsh, will address an estimated 450 graduates of the University of Maine at Augusta during commencement exercises beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center.