UW-Fond du Lac Commencement ceremony set for May 22

Fond du Lac, Wis. –The University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac will hold its annual spring Honors and Commencement ceremony at 7 p.m. on May 22 in the Prairie Theater, 400 University Dr, Fond du Lac.

This year’s Commencement speaker is Lynn Roethke, UW-Fond du Lac alumna, 1988 Olympic Silver Medalist and owner of Club Olympia in Fond du Lac.

In a career that began in 1967, Roethke reins as one of the most accomplished American women judo athletes in the history of the sport. She was recently awarded the rank of seventh degree black belt which makes her the highest rank holder for Judo in Wisconsin and one of only three women holding this rank in the United States.

She is also winner of a silver medal in the 1987 World Championships, a two-time gold medalist in the Pan American Games, a ten-time U.S. National Champion, a gold medalist in two U.S. Open Championships and a five-time gold medalist in the Olympic Festival. She was selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee as “female athlete of the year” in the sport of judo in 1985 and 1987.

Roethke attended UW-Fond du Lac during the 1979-80 academic year and then returned in 1993-94. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Marian College in Fond du Lac.

Andrew (Andy) Del Ponte, Lomira, has been selected as the student speaker.

Del Ponte is earning his associate degree this spring and will be transferring to UW-Oshkosh where he plans to obtain his teaching degree. He is a Student Ambassador, a tutor in the student Work Zone and served as the student representative on the search committee for a new Assistant Campus Dean for Student Services.

Graduates at the spring Commencement will be awarded the Associate of Arts and Science Degree. Ten awards for outstanding student achievement at the university will be presented and honors students will be recognized.

A reception for graduates and their families sponsored by the UW-Fond du Lac Foundation will be held in the University Center Commons following the ceremony.

UW-Fond du Lac is one of the 13 freshman/sophomore campuses which comprise the UW Colleges, serving approximately 13,000 students across the state of Wisconsin.

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