Home - Alumni - News

Alumni News

Main content

Read the latest news on Roberts, our alumni, and the campus community.  Check here for alumni updates as well.  Click here to send us your updates!

May 4, 2016

Dr. Elvera E. Berry to Deliver Spring Commencement Address

Long-time Roberts Wesleyan College Professor of  Communication  Elvera B. Berry, Ph.D., will deliver the keynote address at Roberts Wesleyan College’s spring commencement ceremonies , which will take place on Saturday, May 7, in the Voller Athletic Center on campus, located at 2301 Westside Dr., Rochester N.Y. 14624. The master’s degree and adult undergraduate bachelor’s degree ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m., followed by the ceremony for traditional undergraduate bachelor’s degree and BELL graduates at 2:30 p.m.

Nearly 475 students receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees — as well as family members, friends, faculty and staff — will be on hand to celebrate commencement at the college, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.

 “This is such an exciting year for Roberts Wesleyan College,” President Dr. Deana L. Porterfield said. “During our 150th anniversary, we look to the future while keeping present the rich history of Roberts Wesleyan College. Roberts is a place where students who are dedicated to service and spiritual formation emerge as leaders, transformed and ready to impact the world.”

This year, for the first time, students in the college’s BELL program, an inclusive postsecondary certificate program for ages 18-26 with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are transitioning to adulthood, will walk in commencement, making this inclusive ceremony a first for Rochester.

 “At Roberts, we focus on the personal growth of each student in a challenging and caring environment where each student feels a sense of belonging,” said Dr. Dave Basinger, chief academic officer at Roberts Wesleyan College. “The five 2016 graduates of the BELL program have benefitted from career preparation and real-world applied learning through a range of academic, social and vocational experiences. In my 37 years here at Roberts, I’ve never been more proud of a group of graduates.”

Commencement speaker Berry has served as a communications professor at Roberts since 1964. She specializes in communication studies, rhetorical theory, German literature, oral interpretation, honors students and more.

She received her Ph.D. in higher education and philosophy/rhetoric from SUNY Buffalo, M.A. in rhetoric from SUNY Brockport, M.A. in linguistics and German from University of Rochester and B.A. in German from Roberts Wesleyan College.

For more information about Roberts Wesleyan’s spring commencement, visit roberts.edu/commencement.