UALR expects to graduate 1,370 seniors and graduate students this spring and summer, including hundreds planning to walk across the stage at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday, May 17, to receive their degrees.

Graduates of the colleges of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Education, and Professional Studies will attend the 9:30 a.m. commencement.

Graduates of the colleges of Business, Science and Math, and Engineering and Information Technology will attend the 2 p.m. event.

Dr. Rita R. Colwell, the former director of the National Science Foundation, will receive an honorary doctorate from UALR at the 3 p.m. ceremony. She is currently the chair and chief scientist of Canon U.S. Life Sciences and member of the faculties at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the University of Virginia, College Park. Colwell received the National Medal of Science in 2007 from then-President George Bush.

UALR’s William H. Bowen School of Law expects to graduate 126 law students. Hooding ceremonies for law students will be at 12:30 p.m. at Robinson Center, Exhibition Hall. Judge Beth Deere, U.S. magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas, will address the group.

As is tradition at UALR, the focus of the commencement ceremony will be on the students and their families celebrating their individual achievements, including:

* Angela Howell of Mabelvale dropped out of junior high to help her mother escape an abusive husband. She will graduate magna cum laude with a degree in management information systems. Last week, she and her classmates competed in the national Microsoft Imagine Cup finals in Boston with an innovative system that use bioinformatics to uncover and eradicate causes of childhood cancer. The system harnesses the power of technology to provide a mechanism through which parents, doctors, and medical researchers can enter data into a worldwide data base. 

* Ryan Bona of North Little Rock will receive a bachelor of arts degree in theatre arts and dance. Two weeks ago, he was one of only two students in the United States accepted into the California Institute of Arts’ Master of Fine Arts program in lighting design. The program is headed by Donald Holder, Tony Award winner for Lion King and Moving’ Out.

* Idonia Trotter of El Dorado will receive her juris doctorate degree today, making her the first graduate of what she called, “the amazing opportunity afforded students at UALR” to receive a joint juris doctorate-master of public service degree from UALR’s William H. Bowen School of Law and the Clinton School of Public Service. 

* UALR senior Sara Wikstrom of Jonkoping, Sweden, will receive a bachelors degree in psychology. She was one of nine players in the country to receive an at-large invitation to the 2009 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship Regionals. She played in the NCAA Central Regional for the third-consecutive year. 

* Caroline Tyler, a teen-age mother when she graduated high school in Texarkana, lost her husband in a tragic car crash. At 23, she will end her undergraduate career with a degree in mass communication, insuring a secure future for herself and her daughter, Brooklyn. 

* Roni Flakes of Little Rock, graduating with a degree in mass communication, was one of only two students selected for the American Humanics Award. Who was the other? UALR junior Lakresha Diaz. 

* Joseph Mahoney of Little Rock, graduating with a degree in speech communication, came back to school after being out 20 years. He already owns his own company but had a longstanding drive to complete the degree. 

* Mary Worthy of Little Rock took classes between working in UALR’s purchasing department, and – with her husband – raising a family. The native of Walden will graduate with a degree in speech communication, becoming the first college graduate in her extended family.