Commencement
Spring 2019 Ceremony
Penn State Altoona's spring 2019 commencement ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. in Arena of the Adler Athletic Complex at Penn State Altoona.
GRADUATES, click Commencement Day Details on the menu to find out more about the ceremony.
Campus Map
Find your way around campus using our Interactive Commencement Map.
Tickets
At this time, we don't anticipate that a ticketing system will be necessary for spring 2019 commencement ceremonies at the Adler Arena, but will evaluate the need based on graduate numbers.
Commencement Speaker
Charles N. Marshall
Charles N. Marshall has spent his life in the railroad business, beginning in 1961 when he became a chainman for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He graduated from Princeton with a bachelor of science in engineering with honors in civil engineering. After earning a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, Marshall worked as a lawyer for various railroads, eventually becoming senior vice president of marketing and sales for Conrail. During that time, he helped shape legislation and commercial activity that made railroad deregulation possible. In 1997, Marshall became president and chief operating officer of Genesee & Wyoming Inc., an aggregator of small railroads in North America and other parts of the world. There, Marshall worked on company projects in North America, Australia, Bolivia, Chile, Suriname, and Mozambique. During that time, the company grew fivefold and became listed on the New York Stock Exchange. After retirement, Marshall prepared the business plan for the Rail Transportation Engineering program at Penn State Altoona. He is a member of the Board of the Philadelphia Zoo and is past chairman of the Rails-to-Trails conservancy.