Matthew Hayes, of Lake Jackson, Texas, is giving the response for graduates. He is the radiation protection manager at South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company and completed a bachelor's degree and earned a master's degree this year.
Thomas Edison State University is celebrating its 42nd Commencement on Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Sun National Bank Center, where nearly 600 graduates are expected from 33 states as well as Japan and the United Kingdom.
The class of 2014 includes nearly 3,300 graduates and approximately 580 of those graduates are expected to attend Saturday’s ceremony at the Sun National Bank Center. The Honors Convocation for students who earned academic awards and are being inducted into an honor society is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. The main Commencement ceremony is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
Matthew Hayes, of Lake Jackson, Texas, is giving the response for graduates. Hayes is a 2014 recipient of two degrees from Thomas Edison State University. He earned a 3.83 grade point average while completing a Bachelor of Science in Applied Science and Technology degree in Nuclear Energy Engineering Technology and 4.0 grade point average while earning a Master of Science in Applied Science and Technology degree in Technical Studies.
Hayes, who previously graduated with an Associate of Applied Science degree and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Science and Technology degree in Nuclear Engineering Technology from the college in 2010, serves on the Industry Advisory Committee for the School of Applied Science and Technology’s ABET accreditation. He is currently the radiation protection manager at South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company. Hayes is a certified National Registry for Radiation Protection Technologist who served for six years in the U.S. Navy on the nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS John C. Stennis.
The college will award an honorary degree to U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ 12th). A resident of Hopewell Township, Holt has represented New Jersey’s 12th District in Congress since 1999. He currently serves on the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Natural Resources, where he is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, which is helping to develop a long-term strategy to decrease the nation's dependence on fossil fuels. From 2007 to 2010, Holt served as chairman of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel.
The college will also award an honorary degree to Princeton, N.J., architect E. Harvey Myers. In 1969, Myers opened his own practice on Nassau Street in Princeton, and founded E. Harvey Myers Architects Planners, Inc. in 1971. Today, he continues to run the firm in Princeton with his sons to serve corporate, municipal and residential clients. Myers has served on the college’s Board of Trustees since 1983 and served as chairman from 2002 until 2004. He is the longest-serving trustee in the history of the University and plans to step down from the Board of Trustees in 2014.
This year marks the fifth year that Thomas Edison State University graduates will wear gowns made from recycled plastic bottles and the fourth year where they will have the opportunity to return the gowns to be recycled into other products.
The college has awarded approximately 51,000 degrees to nearly 47,000 graduates since it began providing flexible, high-quality, collegiate learning opportunities for self-directed adults in 1972.
Toni M. Terry, BA