May 4, 2017
The University says goodbye to 348 of its finest at the commencement ceremony on May 6.
This will be the 120th annual commencement ceremony for the University of Montana Western. The guest speaker for this year’s celebration will be Julie Cajune.
Cajune is a University of Montana Western alumna; she graduated with a degree in elementary education in 1991. She works as an educator, a historian, and a documentary film director and producer. She is also a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana and holds the distinction of being the first person to teach Salish in the Montana school system.
At the commencement, the university will also honor Bob Hanson, Montana Farm Bureau president, with the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award.
Hanson graduated in 1970 with a degree in physical science and chemistry. Since graduating, he’s supported Montana Western by lobbying the Montana state legislature against its closure, helping to restore the football program, and offering financial assistance to students in the Young Farmers Young Ranchers program.
This will be the ninth year the University of Montana Western graduates students educated in the Experience One system.
Experience One and the small size of our campus create an intimate setting for instruction. Upper-division classes can sometimes consist of 10 or fewer students. These unique factors build close relationships between classmates and instructors and make the commencement ceremony all the more bittersweet.
440 degrees will be awarded at the event, the second highest in university history. and 47 percent of the students will graduate with honors.
It will be a morning of joyous celebration and tearful farewells. Family members, faculty, administration, and students will all be in attendance to say congratulations, and goodbye.
The commencement will take place at 11 a.m. in the Straugh Gymnasium.
