Saturday, May 27 marks SSUís 39th annual Commencement ceremonies. Of the 2,035 students eligible to graduate, it is expected that approximately 1,200 will take part in Commencement 2000. Total attendance of graduates and their guests is expected to exceed 12,000. The Commencement ceremonies are scheduled at:
10 a.m. for graduates of the Schools of the Natural Sciences and Social Sciences
3 p.m. ceremony for graduates of the Schools of Arts and Humanities, Business and Economics, and Education.
Reservations and tickets are not needed; parking is free in designated areas. For more information, contact Anne Handley, Commencement Coordinator, 664-2018.
Commencement Speakers
This year, SSU is honored to have as Commencement Speaker Dr. Jeffrey Arnold (both ceremonies): Jeffrey Arnold graduated from Sonoma State University with a BA in Studio Art in 1980. From 1981-83, he completed postbaccalaureate study in biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1983, he entered medical school at Stanford University, graduating in 1988. During medical school, he delivered his first baby at the Indian Health Service Hospital in Zuni, New Mexico, rode with paramedics in the Bronx, and worked with surgeons at the Native Alaskan Medical Center in Anchorage. Since completing residency training in emergency medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in 1991, Dr. Arnold has served as an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He is also an Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, Medical Center, where he teaches emergency medicine to resident physicians.
A fortuitous visit by Korean physicians to Cedars-Sinai in 1994 changed his career and led to his involvement in the development of emergency medicine in South Korea. To-day he teaches primarily at Kang Dong Sacred Heart Hospital in Seoul and serves as an Associate Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at Hallym University School of Medicine, also in Korea.
This year at the invitation of the Minister of Health of Taiwan, ROC, Dr. Arnold served on a panel of foreign experts to guide the writing of a national Taiwanese disaster plan following last year's devastating "9-21"earthquake.
Dr. Arnold has written numerous academic papers and chapters on international emergency medicine topics and has lectured internationally on disaster planning, trauma care, and biological/chemical terrorism. He is a managing editor of the first internet textbook of emergency medicine (www.emedicine. com) an editor of the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine, and one of three foreign faculty members of the Emergency Medical Association of Turkey.
Student Speakers
Laura Odeh: (10 a.m. ceremony) Laura will be awarded her bachelor's degree in physics. She was born and raised in San Diego, California and came to Sonoma County just over four years ago. Her interests include music (classical piano and voice) and theatre arts. She has starred in five plays at Sonoma State University: Cabaret," "The Skin of Our Teeth," "A Midsummer Night's ," "Amadeus," and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead." At the Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma, California she performed in the play "La Bete," and at the Actors' Theatre in Santa Rosa, California in "How I learned to Drive," and "The Quick Change Room." Laura has worked as an accompanist and instructor for children's musical theatre classes for Cinnabar Theatre and the City of Novato Parks and Recreation Department. She has also been involved in the EXCEL program for youth at Sonoma State University. Her physics studies have led her to a full-time job with Agilent Technologies in Sonoma County working as a marketing engineer in component test.
Brian Farrar: (3 p.m. ceremony) Brian will graduate with a bachelor's degree in business administration (human resources) and a minor in psychology. His speech is entitled "What I've Learned." Brian came to SSU from Ojai, California where he attended Nordhoff High School. While at Sonoma State University he was rush chair, secretary, and then president of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity; sat on the Promotion for Health and Wellness Committee; served as the Fitness Center supervisor; and was the student representative to the National Intramural Sports Association. For the past five years, Brian worked in the SSU Recreational Sports office, serving as Intramural sports coordinator, special events coordinator, wilderness welcome leader, Super Kids Campus counselor and assistant director for Super Kids Camp. He is currently working as an intern at WineBrats, a non-profit public relations, marketing, and education group for the wine industry in Santa Rosa, California where he hopes to return as a full-time employee in the fall.
For more information, go to http://www.sonoma.edu/uaffairs/commencement/
