SLIPPERY ROCK COMMENCEMENT Secretary of education to speak at ceremony

More than 1,000 undergraduate degrees will be presented.
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Dr. Francis V. Barnes, an alumnus of Slippery Rock University, will be the speaker when the university presents more than 1,050 diplomas at commencement ceremonies at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The ceremony, in N. Kerr Thompson Stadium, will see the presentation of 30 doctorate degrees in physical therapy; 137 master's diplomas; and about 900 undergraduate degrees.
Tickets are not required for the outdoor ceremony, but all graduating students have been issued four tickets in the event inclement weather forces the ceremony to Morrow Field House.
The spring ceremony, marking the largest in recent memory, will be led by President Robert Smith. Greetings will be presented by Dr. Robert Marcus, a 1961 SRU graduate and current chair of the SRU Council of Trustees.
Barnes
Barnes, who earned his bachelor of science degree in education from SRU in 1971, was named to lead the state's education program in 2004 by Gov. Edward Rendell.
He earned his master of education degree and his doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and holds certifications as elementary and secondary principals, in health and physical education, as supervisor of curriculum and instruction and a letter of eligibility for superintendents of schools.
Before accepting the state's top education post, Barnes served six years as superintendent of Palisades School District in Bucks County and served as superintendent at both the Huntingdon Area and Hopewell Area school districts. He was principal at North Allegheny School District and served as dean of students, department chair and teacher for the Pittsburgh Public Board of Education.