Former Grand Rapids Superintendent Bert Bleke and Community Activist Mary Alice Williams and Community Volunteer Kathleen Keller Muir to receive Honorary Degrees.

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Grand Rapids, Michigan (April 16, 2007) - Aquinas College will graduate nearly 500 students this year. More than 300 of that number will participate in Commencement exercises scheduled for Saturday, May 5 in the School's Field House. The College will also recognize three community leaders, presenting them with honorary degrees during the ceremony that begins at 2 p.m.

Commencement Day for graduates from the Catholic Dominican liberal arts College will begin with a Baccalaureate Mass that will be held at the Cathedral of St. Andrews in downtown Grand Rapids, beginning at 10 a.m.

This year's Commencement Address will be given by Gary Eberle, professor of English and chairman of the English Department, whose remarks are titled "Fighting Fire With Fire."

The College will also recognize three community leaders and present them with honorary degrees. They are: Bert Bleke, former superintendent of the Grand Rapids Public Schools, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Education degree (D.Ed.) for his service to the community school system; Mary Alice Williams, former president and CEO of Arbor Circle and current Interim Director of Aquinas College Advancement Operations, will receive an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree (D.P.S.) for her years of community activism; and Kathleen Keller Muir, a retired Forest Hills Public Schools math/social studies teacher who is being recognized for her many years as a community volunteer, especially for her work at the Henry Paideia Academy in Grand Rapids, will also receive an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree (D.P.S.).

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