This spring, we join the graduating students from our seven campuses in celebrating their achievements during Alliant’s 2014 Commencement ceremonies. Nearly 800 undergraduate and graduate students representing more than 20 countries will enjoy this opportunity to share their accomplishments with family, friends, and faculty members. Graduates will receive bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in psychology and mental health, education, business and management, international affairs, forensic studies, and law.

Mexico City

Alliant’s first commencement ceremony was held at our Mexico City campus on Friday, May 16, 2014. A total of 43 students received their undergraduate and graduate degrees. Dr. Geoffrey M. Cox, president of Alliant International University, was the featured speaker. Dr. Cox, who has been president of the university since 2004, holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Chicago, and has more than 30 years of experience in higher education as an administrator and teacher. He has served as vice provost and dean for institutional planning at Stanford University, and director of financial planning and budgets and associate provost at the University of Chicago.

Graduates from our Mexico City campus

San Diego and Irvine

For our San Diego ceremony on May 23, 2014, we’re pleased to have Dr. Louise Kelly as this year’s Commencement speaker. Dr. Kelly, who holds a PhD in strategic management from Concordia University, was voted Outstanding Professor at California School of Management & Leadership in 2013. Under her faculty leadership, Alliant’s chapter of the National Executive Board of the Academy of Management’s Sigma Iota Epsilon fraternity—which is dedicated to excellence and ethics in business as a professional practice—won chapter of the year three years in a row. Dr. Kelly is a co-founder of GlobalMind Center for Strategic Consulting, and her international scholarship and publications have led to her designation as an Outstanding Scholar by the U.S. federal government. The San Diego ceremony will also recognize eighteen students who received outstanding degree awards, as well as recipients of the Dorothy L. Harris Award for Women, the F. Joseph Mcguigan Research Award, and the James Chipps Memorial Scholarship.

The San Diego celebration will adopt a long-held tradition from our Los Angeles campus commencement ceremony by featuring “Voices of Diversity.” Five of our graduates will read a passage from Alliant’s mission statement in their native languages: English, Farsi, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese.

Commencement for the San Diego and Irvine campuses is scheduled for Friday, May 23, 2014 at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel in San Diego. The processional will begin at 10:30 a.m., and the ceremony will begin at 11 a.m.

Graduates of our Irvine and San Diego campuses

San Francisco and Sacramento

Our San Francisco commencement on May 30, 2014 will feature 136 students from our San Francisco and Sacramento campuses who are receiving their degrees in education, psychology and mental health, and law. We’re honored to have Alliant alumna Dr. Jei Africa, the director of the Office of Diversity and Equity for the San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Division, as our keynote speaker. A native of the Philippines, Dr. Africa received his MA, PsyD, and post-doctoral MS degrees from Alliant’s California School of Professional Psychology.

In addition to the valedictory address by San Francisco Law School’s Nicholas Goldman, for the first time this year’s ceremony will feature a student speaker from Sacramento. Rosie Lecharia Dunn, a graduate of the PsyD program from the California School of Forensic Studies, was selected for this honor by Alliant’s San Francisco and Sacramento chapters of the Student Government Association.

San Francisco’s commencement is scheduled for Friday, May 30, 2014 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, CA.

President Cox addresses San Francisco and Sacramento campus grads

Los Angeles

More than 100 students from our Los Angeles campus will participate in our June 1, 2014 commencement ceremony, earning graduate degrees in education, psychology and mental health, and forensic studies. Like our San Diego program, this event will also feature the “Voices of Diversity” multicultural celebration, during which members of the graduating class will read a passage from the Alliant mission statement in their native languages. Six graduates will participate in reading this passage in English, Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Farsi, and Spanish.

Commencement for the Los Angeles campus is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on June 1,2014 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Fresno

Sixty-two students from our Fresno campus will receive their degrees during our final California commencement ceremony, scheduled for June 7, 2014. We are privileged to have the Honorable Hilary A. Chittick, a judge in the Superior Court of Fresno County, as our featured speaker. Special recognition will also be made of Dr. Manuel Figueroa-Unda, a member of the Fresno PhD faculty who is retiring from California School of Professional Psychology after years of valued service.

Commencement for the Fresno campus is scheduled for Saturday, June 7, 2014 at the Saroyan Theater in the Fresno Convention Center. Ceremonies will begin at 1 p.m.

We look forward to this season of shared pride as we celebrate the hard work, dedication, and outstanding accomplishments of our graduating students!

Congratulations to all graduates of the Class of 2014!