Hundreds of graduating members of the class of 2015 will fill the field of Seth Grove Stadium at Shippensburg University on May 9 to receive their diplomas and words of wisdom from the keynote speaker — Frank Brogan.

Brogan, chancellor of the Pennsylvania School System for Higher Education (PASSHE), will address 900 SU graduates during the ceremony, beginning at 11 a.m.

Brogan is the chief executive officer of PASSHE, who oversees the 14 schools in the system, as well as all 115,000 students enrolled in the universities.

Before he was a chancellor, Brogan served for two terms as the lieutenant governor of Florida.

He also served as the chancellor of the State University System of Florida and as the president of Florida Atlantic University.

Graduating senior Holly Plenskofski hopes the chancellor’s speech will touch on the students’ hard work while at SU.

“I hope he addresses the work we have done while at Shippensburg, and how that will translate into real life,” she said.

Michael Coolsen, an SU alumnus and professor of marketing, will address 130 graduate students during the Friday night ceremonies in the Luhrs Preforming Arts Center.

Coolsen received his master’s degree from SU in psychology and teaches in the department of management and marketing.

He also has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Lafayette College and received his doctorate in social psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The final weeks for graduate students are coming to a close and many, like Plenskofski, feel a sense of nervous excitement.

“The ceremony will be long,” she said, “but very meaningful.

“It will be so overwhelming to be surrounded by so many other people that are graduating with me, especially people I have never even met before. I think we are all just looking forward to this next chapter in our lives, but it will be hard to say goodbye to Ship.”

Both ceremonies do not require tickets, and guests are to be seated half an hour before the ceremony begins.

If there is poor weather, the undergraduate ceremony will be moved to Heiges Field House and split into two ceremonies — the College of Education and Human Services and the College of Business will be held at 11 a.m., and the College of Arts and Sciences will be held a 3 p.m. Tickets are required if the event is moved indoors

Any decision to move the location will be made by 7 a.m. on May 9. Information can be found on ship.edu, SU’s social media accounts and by calling SU’s hotline at (717) 477-1200.

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