Media Advisory: UA’s Summer Commencement Exercise

UA’s Summer Commencement Exercise

Saturday, Aug. 3, 9 a.m.

Coleman Coliseum

MEDIA CONTACTS

David Miller, 205/348-0825, dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu
Shane Dorrill (Broadcast Media Only), 205/348-8319, sdorrill@ur.ua.edu

Saturday’s ceremony: All undergraduate and graduate diplomas will be awarded. More information can be found at http://ua.edu/commencement/ and http://registrar.ua.edu/degrees/commencement/. The commencement ceremonies will be broadcast live over the Internet.The webcast will be archived on UA’s website, and it will be available for viewing for 30 days following the ceremony.

Shelby Hutson and Taylor Rodden

Master’s degrees, Special Education-Severe Disabilities

When Shelby Hutson and Taylor Rodden were in high school, they enjoyed the tradition of planning and attending the prom. It’s a rite of passage for high-schoolers, but not all. At Oak Hill School in Tuscaloosa, a school that serves special-needs students from grades 6-12, students didn’t look forward to prom because the school had never hosted one. Hutson and Rodden, a pair of UA graduate students volunteering at Oak Hill, were determined to change that. The UA students, with help from the Student Council for Exceptional Children, took to the streets, gaining monetary support and donations of supplies to make the event a reality. Everything from food, a DJ, prom dresses and photography were provided by community members free of charge. “… a lot of people don’t realize a person with severe disability has dreams and normal desires to do the normal high school things,” Hutson said. “It was amazing to see how it impacted them. Most of the parents had long ago written off the chance of their child going to prom. It was a milestone moment, and these kids got to have it.” Hutson will begin work as a special education teacher in Hoover, while Rodden will teach in Atlanta.

Chris Pugh

Bachelor’s degree, Human Environmental Sciences

Chris Pugh’s path to graduation is nine years long. Sometimes, the call to serve creates a detour from the typical degree path. Pugh started work on his human environmental sciences’ degree in 2004 after completing an associate’s degree at Marion Military Institute. But two deployments to Iraq, in 2004 and 2006, and another to Afghanistan, in 2009-10, forced Pugh to take light class loads whenever he was home. As an assistant readiness noncommissioned officer in the Army National Guard, Pugh is responsible for more than 100 soldiers at a time, handling all of their paperwork for pay, school, lodging and supplies. But when he is deployed, he is a construction supervisor. During his second tour to Iraq, he was a gunner in a vehicle that was upended by an improvised explosive device, or IED. His shoulder was ripped apart, and he had to be airlifted to Germany. Surgery healed his rotator cuff and damaged muscles, but the Tuscaloosa native and father of two soon learned he could face his fourth deployment in April 2014. He was determined to finish his classwork before that date – fearing it would interfere with finals – and he took 12 hours in the spring and nine this summer. Saturday, Pugh’s long wait will end with a walk across the stage at Coleman Coliseum and a handshake from UA President Judy Bonner. Named after former football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant – Pugh’s middle name is Bryant – Pugh plans to pursue a master’s degree in human resources at UA and obtain his private pilot’s license. “I’m going to finish it out (Army career), of course. But I always wanted to get a college degree, not just for a job in the future, but for my kids. I’m the first one in my family to graduate with a bachelor’s degree.”