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Newest Members of Alumni Association Welcomed at Graduation

Western Illinois University welcomed the newest members of the Alumni Association during commencement ceremonies on May 15-16 in Macomb and May 17 in the Quad Cities. More then 2,450 students, including nearly 1,940 undergraduate and approximately 515 graduate students, were eligible to participate in the Spring 2009 ceremonies.

All Macomb ceremonies, including the May 15 Honors Convocation and Graduate Commencement and the three undergraduate Commencement ceremonies on May 16 were held in Western Hall.

During the second of the three graduation ceremonies, Western's Distinguished Professor Emeritus John Hallwas, a 1967 and 1968 graduate in English, received the 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award. Hallwas served as an English professor and archivist at Western for 34 years, retiring in September 2004. To read more on Hallwas, including his commencement speech, click here.

Also during that ceremony, the inaugural WIU Young Alumni Excellence Award was presented to Aundrea "Andi" Frieden, a 1996 political science and pre-law graduate, who is a partner with Gibbs & Bruns, LLP in Houston, TX. To read more on Frieden, including her commencement weekend speech, click here.

Commencement weekend concluded with the sixth annual combined Graduate/Undergraduate Ceremony for the Quad Cities Campus at i wireless Center in Moline.

Group Photo: Front row, l-r:  Provost and Academic Vice President Jack Thomas, Young Alumni Excellence Award recipient Andi Frieden '96, Alumni Council President Pam Rigsby Hoffman '70, President Al Goldfarb and Alumni Achievement and Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient John Hallwas '67 '68.  Back row, l-r:  Trustee, Alumni Achievement and Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Bill Epperly '68, Trustee Mike Houston, Vice President for Quad Cities, Planning and Technology Joe Rives, Chair of the Board of Trustees Steve Nelson '70, Trustee Bill Griffin, Vice President for Advancement and Public Services Dan Hendricks, Vice President for Administrative Services and Alumni Achievement Award recipient Jackie Speer Thompson '85 '94  and Vice President for Student Services Garry Johnson.

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