A total of 1,254 students are expected to graduate from TCU during Saturday's split Commencement ceremonies, set for 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

TCU Chancellor Victor J. Boschini Jr. will deliver the Commencement address at the morning ceremony for 610 candidates receiving degrees from the Neeley School of Business, School of Education, College of Science and Engineering and master of liberal arts graduate programs. Graduating senior Leah Edmondson will lead the singing of a hymn and the TCU Alma Mater. The TCU Commencement Band, under the direction of Bobby R. Francis, Brian Youngblood and James McNair, will play for both ceremonies.

Commencement speaker for the afternoon event will be author Kate Staples Lehrer, a 1959 TCU graduate and wife of PBS commentator Jim Lehrer. She will be awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. The 644 students graduating in the afternoon will be from AddRan College of Humanities & Social Sciences, College of Communication, College of Fine Arts, Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences and Brite Divinity School. Graduating senior Allison M. Whetsel will lead the singing of a hymn and the TCU Alma Mater.

In addition to Chancellor Boschini and Provost Nowell Donovan, the platform party for both ceremonies includes the Rev. Angela Kaufman, minister to the university; J. Luther King Jr., chair of the TCU Board of Trustees; and Teri Baker O’Glee, president of the TCU National Alumni Association, as well as vice chancellors, deans and other trustees.

Of the total number of degree candidates, 953 will receive bachelor's degrees (18 will receive double degrees), 249 will receive master's degrees and seven are Ph.D. candidates. For the first time that registrar's office staff can remember, one student will graduate with three bachelor's degrees. She is Bara Gunnarsdottir, an international student from Iceland, who has also been in the Honors Program and a member of the women's soccer team. She will receive diplomas in sociology, mathematics and computer science.

Brite Divinity School has 45 graduates (one Ph.D., one D.Min. candidate and the rest receiving master's degrees).

There are 339 students set to graduate with Latin Honors, including 11 with a 4.0 GPA (one of which is also a double degree recipient).

The geographic makeup of the graduating class includes 956 from Texas, as well students from 37 other states. There are 54 international students graduating, representing 37 foreign countries.

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