It takes many dedicated individuals coming together and working many long hours to make a major event like the Newman University Spring 2015 Commencement successful.
Newman Registrar Shirley Rueb led the commencement committee which coordinated the many duties leading up to and on graduation day.
One of the dozens of Newman faculty members who played a role during the ceremony was Director of Theatre Mark Mannette. For a third straight commencement, Mannette handled the presentation of candidates, announcing the names of each Newman student crossing stage to get his or her diploma.
The high-profile assignment is challenging and Mannette joked that the job is his because there is not a lot of competition lining up to fill the position.
“I’m doing it largely because I think nobody else wants to do it and … I’m trained to use my voice so they’re using some of my skill set and I’m comfortable in front of an audience,” Mannette said.
“I think I got most of the hard ones (names of candidates) right, but I messed a couple of the easy ones,” Mannette said.
