More than 1,800 students are expected to receive their degrees during May commencement at Appalachian State University.

Each of the university’s seven degree-granting colleges or schools will hold individual ceremonies, either May 9 or May 10.

Kim Price

Gil Beck

The Reich College of Education will hold ceremonies Saturday, May 9, at 9 a.m. in the George M. Holmes Convocation Center.

A video featuring graduates reflecting on their experiences in the Reich College of Education will be shown.

The Cratis D. Williams Graduate School will hold ceremonies Saturday, May 9, at 12:30 p.m. in the Holmes Center. Graduates and guests will view a video about graduate student research.

Graduates of the Walker College of Business will participate in ceremonies Saturday, May 9, at 4:30 p.m. in the Holmes Center. They will hear from alumnus and banker Kim Price.

Ceremonies for the College of Arts and Sciences and University College will begin at 9 a.m., Sunday, May 10, in the Holmes Center. Appalachian alumnus Gill Beck will be the speaker. Beck is a brigadier general in the Army Reserve and chief of the civil division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina in Greensboro.

The Hayes School of Music will hold commencement Sunday, May 10, at 1 p.m. in Broyhill Music Center. James Jordan will be the guest speaker. Jordan is an associate professor of conducting at Rider University.

Graduates of the College of Fine and Applied Arts will hear from Hugh MacRae “Crae” Morton III during ceremonies Sunday, May 10, at 4 p.m. in the Holmes Convocation Center. Morton is president of Grandfather Mountain.

About the speakers
Kim Price is president and CEO of Citizens South Bank in Gastonia. He captured the media spotlight with his creative plan to use $20.5 million in Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) funds to spur the sales new homes that have been constructed by builders who financed the construction through Citizens South.

Gill Beck graduated with a degree in English from Appalachian in 1978. As chief of the civil division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District, he is responsible for the prosecution and defense of civil litigation involving the United States and federal agencies in the state’s 24-county Piedmont region. He also has served as an assistant U.S. attorney and received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for his participation in the recovery of $182 million as part of Operation LABSCAM.

James Jordan is the conductor of The Westminster Williamson Voices at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. For 12 years, he served as conductor of The Westminster Chapel Choir. He is also the conductor of Anam Cara, a 20-voice professional choral ensemble based in Philadelphia.

Jordan is recognized and praised in the musical world as one of the nation’s pre-eminent conductors, writers and innovators in choral music.

Hugh MacRae “Crae” Morton III was named president of Grandfather Mountain Inc. in June 2005.

He represents the fifth generation of the MacRae/Morton family to steward the mountain since 1885.

Morton grew up in Wilmington and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.

He spent much of his early career as a radio producer, including three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys radio network.