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OSU-Cascades To Hold First On-Campus Commencement

BEND, OR -- Oregon State University’s Cascades Campus hosts its 21st commencement Sunday. Interim Vice President Andrew Ketsdever says it’s the first graduation ceremony to take place on the Bend campus, "We’ll be in a former pumice mine - it used to be a 100’ hole in the ground. And, to transform that from a pit into a bowl where we could hold commencement, has been absolutely exciting for us." Previous commencements were held elsewhere in Bend, including the Amphitheater (pictured above). 

Around 290 students will receive diplomas; OSU-Cascades will award 224 Bachelors Degrees and 66 Masters.The oldest grad to walk Sunday is 85-year-old Bob Weed, of Redmond. "He started at Oregon State University in 1955 and left part way through his undergraduate career to become a radio broadcast engineer," says Ketsdever, "One day, he found out that OSU Cascades was here and he wandered in and talked to Becky Johnson about coming back to school and she encouraged him to do that. And he’s graduating on Sunday with a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Studies." On the other end of the spectrum, the youngest OSU-Cascades graduate this year, is 19. 

The ceremony will also honor OSU's Interim President Becky Johnson for her 12 years leading the Bend campus. "She was instrumental in bringing the campus here to Central Oregon. And extremely instrumental in bringing it to the location we’re at today - a former pumice mine, demolition landfill." Johnson will deliver the commencement address and receive the Distinguished Service award. "There are very few people who would’ve had the vision to think about what this university might be in the place that we’re at," says Ketsdever.

OSU-Cascades has been without a permanent leader since Johnson's departure about 13 months ago when she took over as Interim President for all of OSU. Ketsdever says, "We were waiting for a Presidential transition in Corvallis. That process has completed and so now it's time to start to focus on the business at hand of hiring a new leader of this campus." Ketsdever says he’s been proud to handle interim duties and will continue to do so until a new Vice President is found. Then, he will return to his position as Dean of Academic Affairs.

He says a new VP could come as soon as January. But, most likely, it’ll be spring or summer before a new head is named. 

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