EDUCATION: HOLDEN TO ADDRESS SOUTHEAST GRADUATES

Governor-elect Bob Holden will deliver the commencement address Saturday at Southeast Missouri State University.

Holden, finishing his second term as state treasurer, won the gubernatorial election against U.S. Rep Jim Talent, R-St. Louis, last month and will take office as governor in January.

Degrees will be conferred on 434 undergraduates and 174 graduate students during the 2 p.m. commencement ceremony at the Show Me Center. In addition, jazz musician Clark Terry will be awarded an honorary degree and will perform with the Southeast Studio Jazz Ensemble.

Art Wallhausen, assistant to the university president, said Southeast officials have a history of inviting governors and other state leaders to speak at graduations, and the university was prepared to invite Talent if he had won.

"We look for someone who has something important to say to our graduates about success in life," Wallhausen said. "Many of our graduates come from small towns, and Bob Holden is a person from a small town who has been very successful."

Holden grew up on a farm in Birch Tree, Mo.

Southeast hosted the first gubernatorial debate in September, Wallhausen pointed out, so it's appropriate the winner give a speech at the university.

Dr. Athula Kulatunga, associate professor of energy and electronics in the industrial and engineering technology department at Southeast, will receive the university's Pride Award, which recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence as a teacher and in scholarship and service.

Among other things, Kulatunga designed and developed various laboratory and instructional materials and has obtained research grants totaling $500,000.

Leading the class of undergraduates are four students with perfect 4.0 grade point averages. They are Dwayne Crites of Jackson, Mo., Terry Minderman of Malden, Mo., Amanda Black of Mill Shoals, Ill., and Rebecca Shull of Kearney, Mo.

Crites and Amy Richardson of Mt. Carmel, Ill., will be recognized as honor scholars.

To be recognized as honors scholars, students must complete 24 hours of honor course work, six of which are at the senior level, and maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.25. Honors scholars also must complete a senior research project.

Seventeen members of Phi Kappa Phi also will be recognized during commencement. Phi Kappa Phi is an international honor society of graduating seniors who rank in the upper 10 percent of their class and have a grade point average of at least 3.75 on a 4.0 scale; juniors who rank in the upper 5 percent of their class and have at least a 3.85 grade point average; and graduate students who are near graduation and have a grade point average of at least 3.9 and an outstanding record.

An honors convocation is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at the Show Me Center. Sixty-eight undergraduates and 120 graduate students will be honored at the convocation.

Dr. Milo Miller, assistant professor of criminal justice at Southeast, will deliver the convocation address.