BROWNWOOD – May 7, 2013 – Howard Payne University will graduate approximately 138 undergraduate and graduate students at its spring Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 11, at 10 a.m., in the Brownwood Coliseum.
Dr. Ellis Orozco, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Richardson, will deliver the charge to the graduates. The undergraduate degrees will be conferred by Dr. Bill Ellis, university president; Dr. David L. Lowrie, Jr., chairman of HPU’s Board of Trustees and senior pastor of First Baptist Church in El Paso; Dr. W. Mark Tew, provost; and Lana Wagner ’97, registrar. Graduate degrees will be conferred by Drs. Ellis and Tew; Dr. Lois Patton, director of the graduate program in business administration and professor of business administration; Dr. Leslie Plagens, dean of the School of Business and professor of business administration; Dr. Joe Robinson, director of the instructional leadership graduate program and associate professor of education; and Dr. Michael Rosato, dean of the School of Education.
Other program participants will include: Corey Ash ’92, director of bands and associate professor of music, directing the Howard Payne University Instrumental Ensemble; Rev. David Cozart ’96, president of HPU’s Alumni Association and minister of education/administration at Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Waco; Tyler Matthew Heidelberg, graduating senior; Ryan David Hogan, graduating senior; Dr. Ronny Marriott, member of HPU’s Board of Trustees and senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Corpus Christi; Dr. Justin Murphy, dean of the School of Humanities, professor of history and director of the Academy of Freedom; and Dr. Elizabeth Wallace ’71, faculty president and professor of music.
Remote parking and shuttle service to the Brownwood Coliseum for Commencement will be available at the parking lot across from the Packer Administration Building on the HPU campus. Buses with identification signs in the windows will begin picking up passengers from remote parking at 9 a.m. and will continue running until one hour after the ceremony. Parking in the vicinity of the Brownwood Coliseum will be more limited than usual on the day of Commencement.
The Commencement ceremony will be preceded on Friday, May 10, by Chime Out, an HPU tradition in which graduating seniors pass a chain of ivy to underclassmen, symbolizing the passing of authority, responsibility and privileges to those students who remain on campus to carry on the traditions of the university. Chime Out begins at 6 p.m. at the J. Howard Hodge Memorial Bell Towers. For more information about Chime Out and Commencement, contact the Office of University Marketing and Communications at (325) 649-8009 or via e-mail at communications@hputx.edu.