More than 3,000 K-State students will be candidates for degrees in the spring of 2024

By Michelle Geering

K-State Communications and Marketing Department

Kansas State University will welcome more than 3,000 students to its ranks of alumni as degree candidates are recognized during commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 4, on the Salina campus and Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11 on the Manhattan campus.

The Class of 2024, K-State’s 157th, includes approximately 2,347 bachelor’s degrees, 644 master’s degrees, 92 doctoral degrees and 118 doctoral degrees in veterinary medicine. Of those students, about 140 will earn multiple degrees. The prospective graduates also include 422 students earning their degrees through a K-State Online program. These students will be recognized during a virtual commencement ceremony.

The ceremonies will begin with K-State Salina Commencement on May 4 at 10 a.m. in the campus’ Student Life Center. Joshua Wexler – a producer, visionary and entrepreneur who founded Pure Imagination, a full-service script-to-screen entertainment company – will be the featured speaker.

On the Manhattan campus, ceremonies will begin May 10 with K-State’s Army and Air Force ROTC commissioning ceremonies, followed by the commencement of the Graduate School and the College of Veterinary Medicine. The Air Force ROTC Detachment 270 ceremony will feature 13 new 2nd Lieutenants at 8 a.m. in Forum Hall of the K-State Student Union. The guest speaker will be Col. Shirley Black, USAF, retired.

The Army ROTC Wildcat Battalion ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. in the K-State Student Union’s Forum Hall. The client and guest speaker are U.S. Army Major General John V. Meyer III, Commanding General of Fort Riley.

The Graduate School Commencement Ceremony will begin at 1:00 PM at the Bramlage Coliseum. The speaker is Tim Taylor, an experienced chemical engineer who has held various leadership positions at companies such as Chevron Phillips and Phillips 66. The commencement ceremony for veterinary medicine will follow at 3:30 p.m., also at the Bramlage Coliseum. Erin and Ben Schroeder, co-owners of a veterinary practice in rural Nebraska, will be the speakers. Both are graduates of the College of Veterinary Medicine and currently star in the National Geographic show “Heartland Docs, DVM,” about their rural practice.

Below is the program and speakers for Saturday, May 11:

–College of Arts and Sciences, 8:30 a.m., Bramlage Coliseum. Frank Tracz, K-State band director, will be the featured speaker. Under his leadership, K-State’s band ensembles have performed at venues around the world, and in 2015 the Kansas State University Marching Band earned the Sudler Trophy from the John Philip Sousa Foundation, widely considered the highest honor in collegiate marching .

–Architecture, Planning and Design College, 10 a.m., McCain Auditorium. The speaker is Clemente Jaquez, co-founder of MODUS architecture, an agency with a portfolio of projects in healthcare, the commercial sector and the hospitality industry. As an architect, Jacquez has led several projects with an approach that touches on the tension of the human experience.

–College of Education, 11 a.m., Bramlage Coliseum. Debbie K. Mercer, interim provost and executive vice president of K-State, will be the featured speaker. Mercer began her career as a kindergarten teacher in rural Kansas but quickly rose through the ranks of the faculties at Fort Hays State University and K-State, where she most recently served as dean of the College of Education.

— College of Business Administration, 12:30 p.m., Bramlage Coliseum. The speaker is Bill Keller, president of Stanion Wholesale Electric Co. since 1990. Keller also serves on the K-State Alumni Association Board of Directors, two advisory boards for K-State Athletics and the KSU Foundation Board of Directors.

— College of Agriculture, 2:30 p.m., Bramlage Coliseum. Jerry L. Hatfield, retired director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agriculture Research Service, will be the featured speaker. A native of Kansas, Hatfield helped develop the research program of the National Soil Tilth Laboratory, which has since been renamed the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment.

— College of Health and Human Sciences, 4:30 p.m., Bramlage Coliseum. David C. Poole, professor of kinesiology at the university and director of the Cardiorespiratory Exercise Lab, will be the featured speaker. Poole is a world-renowned cardiorespiratory researcher and a leading expert on the body’s use of oxygen during exercise.

–• Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, 6:30 p.m., Bramlage Coliseum. The speaker is Gabriel “Gabe” Hernandez, vice president of the Transmission & Distribution Group, or T&D, at Burns & McDonnell. Hernandez has more than 28 years of experience in the electrical transmission and distribution industry in design, project management and business development and also serves as an executive sponsor for T&D’s international business ventures.