Berks to hold two commencement ceremonies on May 5

Penn State Berks will hold two separate ceremonies for its spring commencement. On Saturday, May 5, 2018, the first commencement ceremony will be held for students graduating from the EBC (Engineering, Business, and Computing) Division at 10 a.m. The second ceremony for students graduating from the HASS (Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences) Division and the Science Division will be held at 2 p.m. Both ceremonies will be held on the Perkins Plaza. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremonies will be held in the Beaver Community Center.

For the EBC ceremony at 10 a.m., students are required to arrive at the Perkins Student Center at 9 a.m. for registration, instructions, and robing. Guests must arrive no later than 9:45 a.m. for seating; the Beaver Community Center will open at 8:30 a.m. There will be a reception prior to the ceremony, from 7:30–9 a.m. in the Multipurpose Room, located in the Perkins Student Center. For more information about degrees within the EBC Division, visit the EBC Division page.

For the HASS and Science ceremony at 2 p.m., students are required to arrive at the Perkins Student Center at 1 p.m. for registration, instructions, and robing. Guests must arrive no later than 1:45 p.m. for seating; the Beaver Community Center will open at 12:30 p.m. There will be a reception immediately following the ceremony in the Multipurpose Room, located in the Perkins Student Center. For more information about degrees within the HASS Division, visit the HASS Division page and for the Science Division, visit the Science Division page.

The decision to hold two separate spring commencement ceremonies was necessitated by the growing number of degree graduates; the first year this took place was 2015. This May, a new class of approximately 200 Penn State Berks students will participate in the ceremony, receiving their baccalaureate and associate degrees. Nearly 300 students will have earned their degrees from Penn State Berks.

Aniyia Williams, former student of Penn State Berks and University Park and a 2007 Penn State Schreyer Honors College graduate, will be the commencement speaker for both ceremonies. With her background in the arts and technology, a decade of training as a singer of classical music and opera, and experience in marketing, community management, business development, and non-profit fundraising, Williams had a unique set of skills that prepared her for the next role–entrepreneur. Aniyia Williams is the founder of Tinsel, a tech jewelry start-up based in Silicon Valley.

In addition to founding Tinsel, she serves as Executive Director of the Black & Brown Founders Project, which provides vital resources to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs building tech companies with limited capital. The mission of the Black & Brown Founders Project is twofold: Give Black and Latinx founders the knowledge, tools, and cutting-edge tactics to build successful companies without relying on venture capital; and build a community of Black and Latinx founders to network and share resources with each other.