The 2022 graduation season in our area, which began Saturday with Sioux County High School, continues this week with Chadron, Crawford, and Gordon-Rushville High Schools this coming Saturday.
Gordon-Rushville goes first at 10:30 followed at 1:00 by both Crawford and Chadron. All 3 will be in their respective high school gyms. Hay Springs has its graduation a week later on May 14.
This is Finals Week at Chadron State College with today Dead Day, finals starting tomorrow, the Ivy Day honors program Friday night, and Spring Commencement Saturday morning at 10:00.
For many years, CSC held separate graduations for undergraduate and graduate degrees but has gone back to a combined ceremony in the Chicoine Center. It will also be streamed live by the college and carried on Great Plains Cable Channel 20.
The commencement speaker will be Paul Turman, Chancellor of the Nebraska State College System since 2019.
Turman calls it “a distinct honor to speak to Chadron State graduates as they embark on the next chapter of their lives. I always enjoy my visits to Chadron and look forward to being on campus and being a part of such an important event.”
Turman worked with the governor and legislature to create the Career Scholarship Initiative, fund CSC’s Math Science addition and renovation, and to extend bond funding to address maintenance and repair needs at State Colleges.
He also implemented the college system’s 2025 Strategic Plan and led the state colleges through the 2019 floods and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before coming to Nebraska, Turman spent 8 years with the South Dakota Board of Regents, starting as Director of Academic Assessment, then Associated Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Turman earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from South Dakota State and his doctorate from UNL. He is on the UNMC Rural Health Advisory Committee, the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission, Nebraska Workforce Development Council, and the Nebraska Information Technology Commission.