114th Commencement exercises to honor 264 graduates

Dan Wolgemuth

Rev. Luther Whitfield

Charles Curie

Dr. Tim Smith

Click here for the full schedule of events for Baccalaureate & Commencement on May 12, 2012.

HUNTINGTON, Ind. Huntington University will host its 114th commencement exercises at 3 p.m. May 12 in the fieldhouse of the Merillat Physical Education and Recreation Complex. The university will award master's, bachelor's and associate degrees to 264 graduates. The university will also award three honorary doctorate degrees.

Dan Wolgemuth, president and CEO of Youth for Christ USA, will give the commencement address. His address is titled "What do those stones mean to you?" Dr. Tim Smith, Huntington University associate professor of history, will present the baccalaureate sermon at 10:30 a.m. in the fieldhouse. His message is titled "The Empire Strikes Back" and will focus on Ecclesiastes 9:11.

An honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree will be presented to commencement speaker Wolgemuth; an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree will be presented to the Rev. Luther Whitfield of Youth for Christ; and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters will be presented to 1977 Huntington alum Charles Curie.

The commencement exercises and the baccalaureate sermon are open to the public, and no tickets are required.

Wolgemuth joined Youth for Christ USA as its president and CEO in 2005. He is a 1977 graduate of Taylor University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration/systems. He also studied investment management at the Fellow Life Management Institute and manager development through General Electric. In 2010, he published a book titled "Fragments," and he currently writes a weekly motivational message called "Friday Fragments" which is widely accepted within as well as outside the Youth for Christ organization.

Whitfield joined Youth for Christ in 1991 as the urban inner city director. In his many years of service with the organization, he has helped to develop urban ministry programs for Fort Wayne, including the formation of the Primetime Community Center. Primetime inspires the youth of Fort Wayne through Campus Life ministries, juvenile justice programs and sports programming. Whitfield continues to serve Primetime today as its senior director. He is also the senior pastor of New Covenant Worship Center, a church based at the Primetime Community Center. Whitfield holds a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from Concordia College in River Forest, Ill., a diploma in biblical studies from Calvary Ministries International CMI and a License of Ordination from the Greater Progressive Baptist Church Inc.

Curie is the principal/owner of The Curie Group LLC in Rockville, Md., which is a management and consulting firm specializing in working with national and international leaders in public and private health care. He is a 1977 graduate of Huntington with Bachelor of Arts degrees in psychology and sociology. He also holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago. In 2001, Curie was nominated by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to head the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Smith joined the Huntington history and political science department in 2007. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and he previously taught history at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. His research and teaching focus on British imperial and diplomatic history. He is also the director of the Centre for Non-Western Studies. Smith recently published two books on the Vietnam War titled, "Churchill, America and Vietnam, 1941-45" and "Britain and the Origins of the Vietnam War: UK Policy in Indo-China, 1943-50."