FRAZIER KEYNOTES COMMENCEMENT FOR 258 SOUTHEAST GRADUATES ON AUG. 5

Christina Lee Frazier, professor of biology at Southeast Missouri State University, will keynote summer commencement at Southeast Missouri State University.

Commencement exercises are scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Show Me Center.

During the ceremony, 181 undergraduates and 77 graduate students will receive diplomas. Leading the class of undergraduates are: Karen R. Golden of Hiram, Mo., who holds a 3.975 grade point average and who will graduate with a bachelor of arts degree in history; Angela C. Fisher of Bismarck, Mo., who holds a 3.970 grade point average and who will graduate with a bachelor of arts degree in English; and Peggy Meehan of Jackson, who holds a 3.950 grade point average and who will graduate with a bachelor of science degree in recreation.

Also at the ceremony, seven undergraduate and two graduate student members of Phi Kappa Phi will be recognized. This international honor society recognizes excellence in scholarship and integrity of character in both men and women from a variety of disciplines.

Southeast chartered its first Phi Kappa Phi chapter in 1992.

An honors convocation is scheduled for 4 p.m. that day in Academic Auditorium, during which 23 undergraduates and 49 graduate students will be honored. Mitchel Gerber, Southeast associate professor of political science, will present the Honors Convocation remarks.

The commencement keynote speaker received a 1993 Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. Frazier has also been a primary developer of Southeast's biology program in microbiology and virology.

She has taught most of the undergraduate and graduate courses in these fields and supervises graduate students with these interests. Frazier regularly teaches a creative and critical thinking course to first-year college students and two University Studies courses in women's studies.

Frazier earned the 1993 Faculty Merit Award by the university's alumni association.

Her research has been funded by a number of agencies including the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. She and her students have attempted to isolate viruses as part of a NIH-funded Missouri Flood Emergency Surveillance program.

Because of Frazier's expertise in the area of mosquito surveillance, Southeast recently was selected as the site of a statewide mosquito testing lab for the coming year under an agreement with the Missouri Department of Health.

Frazier also has conducted research on the impact of gender differences on teaching and learning. She has engaged in AIDS and AIDS phobia prevention education and is a frequent speaker at schools, service clubs and other organizations on this subject.

She received a bachelor's degree in biology from Cornell University and a master's degree in philosophy and her doctorate in infectious disease epidemiology and virology from Yale University. She joined Southeast's faculty after a postdoctoral fellowship in infectious disease epidemiology and virology at Yale.

Graduation glance

Who: 181 undergraduates and 77 graduates at Southeast Missouri State University

When: 7 p.m. on Aug. 5

Where: Show Me Center

Speaker: Christina Frazier, biology professor

Other events: Honors ceremony 4 p.m. Aug. 5 at Academic Auditorium; Phi Kappa Phi recognition during graduation