Published: December 19, 2008
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