CSUN Prepares to Hand Out Diplomas

Educators, commentators and engineers will address Cal State Northridge’s Class of 1996 at commencement ceremonies beginning Wednesday, the university has announced.

More than 6,300 undergraduate and graduate students will receive their diplomas in eight separate graduation ceremonies in front of CSUN’s Delmar T. Oviatt Library and the University Club.

Starting Wednesday morning, the graduation schedule is as follows:

* Former television news anchor Frank H. Cruz will speak at the School of Humanities’ commencement ceremony at 8 a.m. Wednesday on the Oviatt Lawn.

* Kathleen Virga, a Hughes Aircraft engineer and CSUN alumna, will speak at the School of Engineering and Computer Science’s commencement ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the University Club.

* Ralph Vicero, dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, will speak at his students’ commencement ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on the Oviatt Lawn. Vicero is retiring after 27 years at CSUN.

* The Los Angeles Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic, Howard Rosenberg, will speak at the commencement ceremony for the School of Communication, Health and Human Services at 8 a.m. Thursday on the Oviatt Lawn.

* Carolyn R. Burch, principal of Sun Valley’s John H. Francis Polytechnic High School and a CSUN alumna, will speak at the School of Education’s commencement ceremony at 11 a.m. Thursday at the University Club.

* Muralist, activist and CSUN alumna Judith Baca will speak at the School of the Arts’ commencement ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the University Club.

* Ron Thigpenn, chief operating officer of Family Savings Bank and a CSUN alumnus, will speak at the commencement ceremony for the School of Business Administration and Economics at 8 a.m. Friday on the Oviatt Lawn.

* Cecily M. Grzywacz, principal staff research scientist for the Getty Conservation Institute and a CSUN alumna, will speak at the School of Science and Mathematics’ commencement ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the University Club.