Winter Commencement Honors 392 Graduates

As 392 University of Tampa winter bachelor’s and master’s candidates were honored Dec. 13, Raina Armbruster challenged her fellow graduates to boldly face the situations that give rise to their greatest fears.

For us, young adults emerging into a society ready to live and lead, being afraid to fail is quite possibly the most debilitating fear,” Armbruster said. “…You have successfully earned a college degree. Now reflect. Was this experience accomplished without failure? Somewhere along the journey, you had to make a choice, to take a risk.”

Armbruster was one of the designated speakers at UT’s 125th commencement, which honored a total of 317 bachelor’s candidates and 75 master’s candidates. The ceremony took place in UT’s Bob Martinez Sports Center.

A psychology major and English minor from Jacksonville, FL, Armbruster has been active with a number of organizations on campus, including Alpha Chi, Psi Chi, Sigma Tau Delta and Alpha Chi Omega. She has received PEACE’s 100 hours of service award, and the Greek Volunteer of the Year award. She created the March of Dimes Collegiate Council at UT, and participated in the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk.

Dr. Mary Anne Watson, professor of management and chair of the management department, also spoke at the ceremony as this year’s recipient of the Louise Loy Hunter Award. The award is given annually by its previous recipients to a UT professor for excellence in teaching and cumulative contributions in service and scholarship.

The alumni achievement award was presented to Thomas Graham ’82, president of Pepco Region, which serves more than 730,000 electricity customers in Washington, D.C. and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland.

UT Graduates by the Numbers:

392 total graduates
317 total bachelor’s degree candidates
1 summa cum laude
17 magna cum laude (GPA 3.75 or higher, but less than 4.0)
33 cum laude (GPA 3.5 or higher, but less than 3.75)
75 total master’s degree candidates
2 with honors (GPA 3.9 or higher, but less than 4.0)
7 with highest honors (4.0)
17 countries represented
61 percent of graduates are from Florida
Top three most popular undergraduate majors in this class: accounting, management, biology
MBAs Awarded: 45