Colby-Sawyer College celebrated its 179th Commencement on Saturday, May 6, graduating approximately 255 students and recognizing them and other individuals for academic excellence, outstanding contributions to society, and service to the college and community. The ceremony was held at 10:30 a.m. on the college’s front lawn.

Eighteen graduating students participated in the study away program, and all of them completed internships as required by the college. Class members are moving on to positions with companies including Canary Systems, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Enterprise, Syncretic Press, CLEAResult Energy Company, and they have been accepted to graduate schools that include Boston College, Boston University, Miami University and Lesley University.

Graduating Student Awards

Matthew Nosal, an English and creative writing double major from Manchester, N.H., has been selected as the Senior Commencement Speaker and will deliver an address titled “So Come Home.”

The Colby-Sawyer Award, given to the senior who exemplifies the college’s ideals of personal dignity, intellectual growth and contributions to campus life, will be presented to Deepesh Duwadi, a biology major from Dhading, Nepal.

The David H. Winton Baccalaureate Award, which recognizes the graduating student with the highest cumulative grade point average, will be announced at Commencement.

Community Awards

Colby-Sawyer will recognize members of the college and greater community for outstanding contributions to higher education and the life of Colby-Sawyer students.

For his extraordinary, lifelong dedication to higher education, and for his decades of leadership and service to the institutions of New Hampshire, Colby-Sawyer is proud to recognize Thomas R. Horgan, Ed.D., with an honorary degree. Horgan has been president and CEO of the New Hampshire College & University Council (NHCUC) since 1993 and will step down from the post June 30.

Horgan holds an undergraduate degree from Morningside College, a master of public administration degree from the University of Nebraska and a doctorate in education from New England College. He resides in Manchester with his wife, Sue. They are the parents of five college graduates and the proud grandparents of two.

Assistant Professor of Nursing and Public Health Joan M. Huber, a resident of Grantham, will receive the Jack Jensen Award for Excellence in Teaching, the college’s highest faculty award, and deliver the Commencement Address, “All About You.”

Professor Huber began her career in the U.S. Navy, where she served for 30 years as a critical care clinical nurse specialist, as a nurse administrator, and in executive medicine positions as the chief operating officer and chief executive officer of a naval hospital in California before retiring with the rank of captain. She held many high profile jobs during her Navy career, including Senior White House Nurse during the Reagan and Bush administrations. Professor Huber holds a B.S.N. from Villanova University and an M.S. as a critical care clinical nurse specialist from the University of California San Francisco. She has taught at Colby-Sawyer since 2001.