Morley Swingle to speak at Southeast commencement

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney and author Morley Swingle will address 703 graduating students at Southeast Missouri State University's commencement ceremony on Saturday.

The ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Show Me Center.

The graduating class includes 589 undergraduates and 114 graduate students.

An honors convocation is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in the Show Me Center to recognize 122 undergraduates and 66 graduate students. Dr. Alberta Macke Dougan, professor of history and interim chairwoman of the middle and secondary education department at Southeast, will address the honors students.

Seven students will graduate with perfect 4.0 grade-point averages, including Amy Dewrock of Cape Girardeau and Jackson residents Kendra Anderson, Ashley Myer and Brett Price.

Price and Cape Girardeau resident Meghann Humphries will be recognized as honors scholars.

Students must complete 24 hours of honors course work, maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.25 and complete a senior research project to be named honors scholars.

The Southeast Student Brass Quintet will perform during commencement. Graduating music major Erika Beasley of Cape Girardeau will perform the national anthem.

Swingle, the commencement speaker, has prosecuted thousands of cases including 64 murder trials. He has appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show," and cases he has prosecuted have been featured on "Court TV," "Dateline," "Forensic Files" and "Arrest & Trial."

His historical novel "The Gold of Cape Girardeau" involves buried treasure, murder, a courtroom battle, steamboats and the crisis of the Civil War in Southeast Missouri. It won the 2005 Book Award from the Missouri Humanities Council for increasing understanding and appreciation of the state's history and culture.