Indiana University of Pennsylvania will honor 1,457 graduates during commencement ceremonies on May 10 at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex, and will honor Lt. Col. Barry Gasdek, a 1964 graduate of IUP and 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, with an honorary Doctor of Public Services degree.
IUP will offer three ceremonies:
-
Graduates from the College of Health Sciences and the University College will receive degrees at the 8:30 a.m. ceremony;
-
Graduates from the John J. and Char Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the College of Education and Human Services will receive degrees at the 12:30 p.m. ceremony; and
-
Graduates from the College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Affairs and the Eberly College of Business will receive degrees during the 3:30 p.m. ceremony.
Lt. Col. Gasdek, a native of Westmoreland County and graduate of Derry High School, will offer the commencement address and will receive his honorary degree at all three ceremonies. IUP Distinguished University Professor Lorraine Guth from the Department of Counseling will address the graduates at all three ceremonies. Graduate and undergraduate student speakers also will provide remarks at each ceremony.
Tickets are not required for the ceremonies. All three ceremonies will be livestreamed on the IUP YouTube channel. Students completing requirements for graduation in May and August are eligible to participate in the May ceremonies.
A total of 1,049 will receive bachelor’s degrees, 336 students will receive master’s degrees, 64 students will receive doctoral degrees, and eight students will receive associate degrees.
A total of 45 undergraduates are completing undergraduate studies with a perfect 4.0 grade point average, and 602 qualify for honors (3.25 or above cumulative grade point average).
The total number of graduates by college are: 244 from the College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Affairs; 234 from the Eberly College of Business; 104 from the College of Education and Human Services; 272 from the College of Health Sciences; 184 from the Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; 19 from the University College.
IUP President Michael Driscoll will preside over all of the ceremonies. All students participating in the commencement ceremonies will be recognized by name and congratulated on stage.
The 8:30 a.m. ceremony will feature student speakers Briana Caldwell of Drexel Hill, who is receiving a degree in general studies, and Zoe Kaigler, a resident of Pittsburgh and native of Irwin, who is receiving her master’s degree in speech-language pathology.
Caldwell is the daughter of Brian Caldwell and April Caldwell and is a 2011 graduate of Upper Darby High School. She is a dean’s list student.
Kaigler is a graduate assistant for the Allied and Public Health Department and served as an academic coach through IUP’s Labyrinth Center for IUP students on the autism spectrum. She is the recipient of the Quota of Indiana Pa. scholarship. Daughter of Will Kaigler and Julie Kaigler of Pittsburgh and Melissa Kaigler and Tim Rinker of Irwin, she is a 2011 graduate of Norwin High School and received her bachelor’s degree in 2015 from Gettysburg College.
The 12:30 p.m. ceremony will feature student speakers Randy McRoberts, of Yukon, OK, who is receiving his PhD in safety sciences, and Kaitlyn Pletcher of Rockwood, who is receiving her degree in early childhood education-special education.
Pletcher, daughter of Allen and Renee Pletcher, is a 2022 graduate of Rockwood Area High School. She received the Sutton Scholarship, the Department of Professional Studies in Education scholarship, and the 2024 Kappa Delta Pi Dean’s Service Award. She was a member of the Student Pennsylvania State Education Association, Preservice Teachers of Mathematics, and was selected for membership in Kappa Delta Pi education honor society, serving as secretary and community service cochair. She was a tutor for the Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences. She is graduating from IUP with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
The 3:30 p.m. ceremony will feature student speakers Alexandra Krasovas, originally from Omsk, Russia, who is receiving her PhD in composition and applied linguistics, and Megan Lydick of Indiana, who is receiving a dual degree in accounting and management with a minor in psychology.
Krasovas is the recipient of the Graduate Student Outstanding Research Award, the IUP Outstanding Leader Award, the Promising Future Interdisciplinary Researcher Award, and the Teaching Associate Faculty Recognition Award. She has been a writing tutor at the Kathleen Jones White Writing Center for three years, was director of public relations for the Graduate Student Assembly, and was social media coordinator for the English Graduate Organization. She volunteered for the Culture Café for international students through the American Language Institute and conducted professional development workshops for the Writing Center and the Eberly College of Business. She has taught English for the American Language Institute and for the Department of Language, Literature, and Writing and taught Russian for the Critical Languages Program. She has also served as an academic success assistant with the University College. She is the daughter of Levchuk Irina and was welcomed by the Randy and Ann Jesick and Karen and Dave Koches families in Indiana.
Lydick, daughter of Fran Lydick and Doug Lydick, is a 2016 graduate of Indiana Area Senior High School. An Eberly College of Business honors program student, she was selected for the Eberly College of Business Student Gallery. She was a member of the Student Accounting Association, was a tutor for the Accounting and Information Systems Department, and participated in the Discover India study abroad program. She is a member of ROTC and the Army National Guard. She is graduating from IUP with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
Stella Chepaitis, of Indiana, will be a vocalist at all three ceremonies. Chepaitis, daughter of Stanley Chepaitis and Swana Chepaitis, will receive her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at the 3:30 p.m. ceremony. She completed her studies at IUP with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
Michaela Lees, of Ebensburg, will be a vocalist at the 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. ceremonies. She will receive her degree in vocal performance and music education at the 3:30 p.m. ceremony. Daughter of Kimberly Lees and Matthew Lees, she is a dean’s list student and received the Ready to Succeed Scholarship. She was the treasurer of IUP’s Student National Association of Teachers of Singing and participated in opera and musical theater productions.
A total of 170 undergraduates, wearing crimson and gray philanthropy cords, upheld a tradition dating back to 1888 by contributing to the senior class gift. Each made a gift of $20.25 or more in honor of their graduation year.
Marianne McCullough, a nursing degree graduate from Johnstown, is the Senior Class Gift presenter for 8:30 a.m. ceremony; Kennedi Bishop, an early childhood and special education graduate from Camp Hill is the Senior Class Gift presenter for the 12:30 p.m. ceremony; and Nico Bahamonde, a political science degree graduate from Madison Township is the Senior Class Gift presenter for the 3:30 p.m. ceremony.
McCullough, daughter of Keith and Sarah McCullough, is a 2021 graduate of Bishop McCort Catholic High School. She was the 2024 College of Health Sciences Homecoming court representative, was selected for Sigma Theta Tau international nursing honor society, and received the Sutton Scholarship and Ready to Succeed Scholarship. She was a member of the IUP Ambassadors student-alumni group, formerly serving as vice president and Homecoming chair; is the former treasurer of the Residence Hall Council; participated in recreational flag football; was a member of Nursing Christian Fellowship; worked at IUP Welcome Week; and was a student worker for IUP’s Center for Multicultural Student Leadership and Engagement.
Bishop, daughter of Chrissy Bishop and Lee Bishop, is a 2021 graduate of Cedar Cliff High School. She was a member of the IUP Ambassadors student-alumni group and was a member of the IUP Student Giving Committee.
Bahamonde was a member of the Political Leadership Society, IUP Votes, WIUP-FM, the Sign Language Club, the Pre-Law Society, and Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.
President of the IUP Alumni Association Board of Directors Leslie Miller Purser, a 1988 graduate of IUP and a 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, will bring greetings from the IUP Alumni Association Board of Directors at all three ceremonies.
Major General Purser, a studio art graduate of IUP, earned her Army commission as a second lieutenant at her 1988 graduation from IUP and was recognized as a Distinguished Military Graduate. Major General Purser is retired from the US Army after 37 years of service. Her last assignment was as principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. In that post, she oversaw Army manpower, training readiness, mobilization, recruitment, marketing, and diversity issues. Among her decorations are two Distinguished Service Medals, four Legions of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the Iraqi Campaign Medal. Born in Bellefonte and raised in Towanda, she has held command and staff positions in the US, Europe, and Iraq. She now lives in Dandridge, TN, with her husband, Joseph, also a retired Army officer. They have two children, Jennifer and Justin, both of whom are Army captains.
Barry Gasdek
About Lt. Col. Barry Gasdek
A retired Airborne, Ranger, and Pathfinder infantry soldier, Lt. Col. Gasdek’s heroic military service in Vietnam earned him many of the nation’s highest honors, including the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Soldier’s Medal, five Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, and 17 Air Medals. Following his retirement from the Army in 2012, he received the honorary designation of colonel.
Beyond his military achievements, he has remained steadfast in his commitment to supporting veterans, military families, and future leaders through his leadership in national and state organizations.
An Army Reserve ambassador emeritus, Lt. Col. Gasdek served as the Legion of Valor national commander in 2008–09 and currently serves on its board of directors. He is also president of the Association of the US Army’s Wyoming Cowboy Chapter, past Wyoming State director with the American Legion Boys’ State, past Region III and current state commander with the Military Order of the Purple Heart, and Military Outreach director with Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, under the US Department of Defense.
He is active in multiple civic, military, and private organizations and has established valuable working relationships with military support organizations, veterans and local service organizations, state and community leaders, and the US government.
Lt. Col. Gasdek is a life member of numerous organizations, including the Legion of Valor, US Army Ranger Association, Association of the US Army, National Infantry Association, CIA, Military Officers Association of America, Military Order of the Purple Heart, American Division Veterans Association, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, University of Wyoming Veterans Task Force, Laramie Area Chamber of Commerce, Czechoslovak Society of America, Lions Club, and Rotary International.
Additionally, he is an Eagle Scout and Order of the Arrow (Vigil) member of Boy Scouts of America; a former board member of the Miss Georgia Pageant and Springer Opera House, State Theatre of Georgia; a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society; and an inductee in the Hall of Valor at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Pittsburgh; the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in Vails Gate, NY; the US Army Cadet Command’s Army ROTC Hall of Fame; the University of Wyoming’s Cowboy Battalion Alumni Hall of Fame; the IUP Army ROTC Hall of Fame; and the IUP Athletic Hall of Fame. While at IUP, he was an athlete of the year and played in three sports: football, wrestling, and track and field.
He is also a recipient of the Army Superior Civilian Service Award, the Association of the US Army Soaring Eagle and Leadership awards, the Wyoming Outstanding Military Outreach Coordinator Award, the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Lifetime Achievement Award and Volunteer Award, two Lions Club International Leadership Awards, and three US President’s Volunteer Service Awards.
A former commissioner and veterans service officer with the Wyoming Veterans Commission, he has served as grand marshal of parades commemorating IUP Homecoming, Memorial Day in Cheyenne, and the Green River Rendezvous in Pinedale, Wyoming. He was also the subject of a US Senate tribute noted in the 2012 Congressional Record.
In addition to his IUP degree, he earned a master’s in counseling-psychology from Georgia State University. Lt. Col. Gasdek currently makes his home in Laramie, WY.
IUP has granted only 59 honorary degrees in its history; Lt. Col. Gasdek’s honorary degree is IUP’s sixtieth honorary degree.
The IUP University Senate Academic Committee makes the nomination for honorary degree recipients and recommends the nominee to the IUP Commencement Committee and the university president. The nominee must be approved by the IUP Council of Trustees with notification given to the chancellor of the State System of Higher Education. The Council of Trustees approved Lt. Col. Gasdek’s honorary degree at its March meeting.
Lorraine Guth
About Distinguished University Professor Lorraine Guth
The Distinguished University Professor is a faculty member who exemplifies excellence in all areas of teaching, research and scholarly activities, and service. The Distinguished University Professor recognition is a title that the recipient holds for life.
Guth has been a faculty member in the Department of Counseling since 1998. She is a licensed professional counselor and licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania as well as a national certified counselor. In addition to her teaching responsibilities in the classroom and supervising students in clinical settings, she has been recognized nationally for her leadership in the field that includes teaching and presenting internationally at sites around the world.
In addition to her faculty responsibilities, Guth has worked internationally to advance the counseling profession, providing direct service and training. Guth stated, “These meaningful endeavors have taken me across the globe, where I’ve acquired invaluable knowledge and skills that significantly enrich my teaching.”
In 2020, she was awarded an Erasmus+ Grant from the European Union to deliver undergraduate and graduate student workshops at Middle Eastern Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, on topics including enhancing counselor wellness as well as strategies to intentionally use group work to transform hate and enhance community building.
Guth’s 2015–16 sabbatical project included teaching, service, and research in Malawi, Africa, funded through an IUP Faculty Professional Development Council Grant for International Career Enhancement. This followed her 2014 outreach project, “Counseling in the Warm Heart of Africa Institute” in Lilongwe, Malawi, when she was one of 10 counselor educators from the United States chosen for the National Board of Certified Counselor International Malawi Counseling Institute. In 2017, she was invited to lead the second Malawi Counseling Institute, facilitating a group of delegates from the United States who taught counseling courses at Africa University of Diplomacy, Counselling, and International Relations.
In 2011, she was one of 12 counselor educators from the United States chosen to be part of the NBCC-I Thunder Dragon Institute in Thimphu, Bhutan, providing direct counseling services to Bhutanese students in a local school and training to the school principal, teachers, and counselors; she then coordinated a service project in the United States where faculty and graduate students donated counseling resources to the Bhutanese school. She has also presented and connected with counseling professionals in Ireland, Italy, and Hong Kong.
She has served on many university and college committees, including being a member and chair of the University Senate Research Committee, where she reviewed more than 2,000 small grant proposals and 180 fellowship grant proposals, with $1.9 million in funds awarded; the University Wide Sabbatical Committee; and the College’s Diversity Committee. She has also been a long-time member of the University Senate and previously served on the Middle States Accreditation Committee and the University Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues.
She is the clinical coordinator for her department’s master’s degree program and coordinates the Indiana Digital Counselor Training Facility for on-campus practicum classes. She was part of the team that secured $190,000 in technology fee funding for innovative Landro technology that enhanced counselor training and supervision. She has served as a faculty advisor for the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching program at IUP, which included supervising the group work inquiry project of a teacher from Botswana, Africa.
She has also provided service in local public schools and nursing homes as a certified therapy dog handler and participates in the IUP Just Paws therapy dog program. She has published a journal article and two chapters in an edited book about this work.
Over the past 26 years, her scholarship has primarily focused on group work, including process observation and international counseling; multicultural and diversity issues in counseling, including social justice and sexuality issues; teaching effectiveness; and counselor wellness, with the intention of informing the counseling profession at the international, national, and local levels. Guth has contributed to 46 publications, including a guiding document on 10 tips for facilitating virtual work groups in response to the pandemic, 100 professional presentations, and numerous service projects.
In addition to the Distinguished University Professor recognition, Guth is the recipient of several awards from IUP for teaching, scholarship, and service: the 2022 Distinguished Faculty Award for Research; the 2017 College of Education and Communications Faculty Scholar Award; the 2016 College of Education and Educational Technology Dean’s Outstanding Researcher Award; and the 2009 Faculty Recognition Award for Outstanding Leadership, Service, and Teaching in the IUP College of Education and Educational Technology.
External to IUP, she is a four-time recipient of the Association for Specialists in Group Work President’s Award for Outstanding Service. She served on the group’s executive board for six years, including as president of the organization. During her presidential tenure, the organization created an inaugural masterclass podcast-video series and held the national conference. As past president, she co-edited a special issue of the Journal for Specialists in Group Work focusing on group work innovations in a transforming world. She also participated in service projects with the organization, including community outreach to residents in Puerto Rico.
In June, Guth she will be the keynote speaker at the first international mental health conference in Maun, Botswana. While there, she is collaborating with a counselor educator and one of the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching scholars from Botswana to study the professional quality of life of mental health professionals and helpers. Guth hopes the research results will inform the development of needed wellness interventions for mental health professionals in Botswana.
She will also continue to co-coordinate the Association for Specialists in Group Work masterclass podcast and video series; engage in an international group activity to enhance her awareness, knowledge, and skills related to wellness, self-care, and cultural humility; and further the research efforts in Botswana.
Faculty Emeriti
Members of the IUP community who have been honored with emeritus status also are recognized in the commencement program.
Each year, the university confers the title “emeritus” on qualified academic and administrative faculty who have been recommended through a department-based process. Emeritus status is designed to show respect for a distinguished career upon an employee’s retirement or departure from the university. Emeritus status was approved for the following faculty; the departments from which they retired or last worked follow the names:
College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Affairs
- Lynn Botelho, History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Religious Studies, 28 years of service
- Mary Logan-Hastings, Music, Theatre, and Dance, 24 years of service
Eberly College of Business
- P. Michael Kosicek, Management, 21 years of service (posthumously awarded)
- Stephen Osborne, Management, 36 years of service
College of Education and Human Services
- J. Beth Mabry, School Psychology, Special Education, and Sociology, 21 years of service
College of Health Sciences
- Krys Kaniasty, Psychology, 34 years of service
- Edith West, Nursing, 18 years of service
John J. and Char Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
- Kenneth Coles, Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences, 20 years of service
- Gregory Kenning, Madia Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Physics, 20 years of service
- Thomas Simmons, Biology, 33 years of service
IUP Libraries
- Susan Drummond, University Libraries, 26 years of service
- Sandra Janicki, University Libraries, 36 years of service