May 27, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Teresa Hendrix
(805) 756-7266

Cal Poly Commencement Set for June 11

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- More than 3,600 students are set to graduate in two ceremonies at Cal Poly’s Spring Commencement June 11.

William H. “Bill” Swanson, chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon, will be the keynote speaker at the morning ceremony before some 1,916 degree candidates from the colleges of Agriculture, Architecture and Environmental Design, and Engineering. Swanson will also receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree at the ceremony, which begins at 9 a.m. in Mustang Stadium.

California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson will deliver the keynote remarks at the afternoon ceremony before some 1,710 degree candidates from the colleges of Education, Liberal Arts, Science and Mathematics, and the Orfalea College of Business. McPherson will also receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the ceremony, which begins at 3 p.m. in Mustang Stadium.

Both men are Cal Poly alumni. Swanson graduated magna cum laude with a degree in industrial engineering in 1973. McPherson, who served in the state senate and state assembly before being appointed recently as California’s secretary of state, graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in journalism in 1965.

Also at the morning ceremony, Cal Poly alumnus Richard J. O’Neill will be presented with the President’s Medal of Excellence. Following the morning commencement there will be a brief ceremony naming the Richard J. O’Neill Green -- currently known informally as the three-acre lawn in front of the Orfalea College of Business.

Cal Poly expects more than 36,000 visitors to campus for the commencement ceremonies June 11.

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Editors please note: Media should bring their Cal Poly parking passes and park in the faculty/staff parking lot behind Heron Hall on Campus Way. Use the California Boulevard entrance to campus and turn left into the first driveway after the intersection of California and Campus Way. Prospective graduates will meet with their colleges and departments in various locations on campus about a half hour before each ceremony to line up for the procession into Mustang Stadium.