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.
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.
Fall 2018 Ceremony
Penn State Altoona's fall 2018 commencement ceremony was held Saturday, December 15, 2018, at 11:00 a.m. in the Arena of the Adler Athletic Complex at Penn State Altoona.
LiveStream
The commencement ceremony was Live Streamed and is now available for viewing on the Penn State Altoona YouTube channel.
Watch the Commencement video now.
Commencement Speaker
Lee Ann De Reus
Lee Ann De Reus, PhD, is executive director of the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP), a non-profit in Washington, D.C. DV LEAP provides access to justice and safety for survivors of domestic violence across the US by overturning unjust trial court outcomes through pro bono legal appeals.
An ardent advocate for women’s and human rights, Dr. De Reus has dedicated her career to leading change for vulnerable populations in the United States and Africa. She is an internationally-recognized expert on gender, sexualized violence, women’s rights, and activism with over 100 speaking engagements at venues such as TEDxPSU, the Oslo Freedom Forum, and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
Dr. De Reus is chair of the board of directors and co-founder — with 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege — of Panzi Foundation USA, a non-profit that assists survivors of gender-based violence at Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Under her co-leadership with Tyrone native Peter Frantz, the funds raised by the foundation increased tenfold in four years for hospital aftercare programs such as literacy training and music therapy.
At Penn State Altoona, Dr. De Reus was an associate professor of Human Development and Family Studies/Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies for twenty years. She taught classes on family functioning, gender dynamics, and human development across the lifespan, as well as conducted research on gender-based violence in the DRC. For fifteen consecutive years, Dr. De Reus led PSU field experiences for students in the Dominican Republic, Rwanda, Chad, Tanzania, and Mozambique. Her efforts were recognized with several awards from PSU including the prestigious George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Spirit of Internationalization Award given in honor of her commitment to global service and outreach. During her tenure she was also a Carl Wilkens Advocacy Fellow for the Genocide Intervention Network; the Distinguished Donahue Scholar in Residence at Lasell College; and an Oxford University Roundtable Scholar.
Dr. De Reus, who earned her master’s and doctorate degrees from Purdue University, was awarded that institution’s Distinguished Service Alumni Award in 2017. She is the recipient of the 2018 Iowa State University Alumni Merit Award from her undergraduate alma mater, and the 2018 National Council on Family Relations Inclusion and Diversity Social Justice Award for Contributions to Family Science.
Dr. De Reus and her partner Kent Crago live in N. Bethesda, MD. Her daughter, Arianna De Reus is a proud Penn State graduate and a US Navy surface warfare officer on the USS WASP, currently stationed in Sasebo, Japan. You can follow Dr. D on Twitter: @LADeReus, @PanziUSA, @DV_LEAP; LinkedIn and Instagram: leeanndereus.