DOUGLAS — Cochise College will hold its 48th commencement ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday, May 17 at the Douglas Campus. Students completing their first and second years of the nursing program will participate in a pinning ceremony at the campus the evening prior. Both events will be broadcast live online.
College offices will close at 3 p.m. Friday for faculty and staff to prepare for commencement festivities.
This year, Cochise College will award more than 1,500 diplomas for the summer and fall 2012 and spring 2013 semesters, and more than 300 students are expected to participate in commencement ceremonies. Online streaming will allow viewers to see everything from the processional to the last graduate crossing the stage.
Antonio Pena
The student speaker at the ceremony will be Tony Peña, an engineering major, First-Team All-Arizona Scholar and Vice President of Scholarship for Phi Theta Kappa – Alpha Beta Zeta chapter. Peña is also a student representative on the Honors Committee and actively participates in community service around Douglas and on campus.
Two former members of the college’s faculty, Mark von Destinon and Charles “Chuck” Perry, will also be honored as the latest confirmed faculty emeriti, the highest honor awarded by the college to retired full-time faculty, counselors and librarians.
Mark von Destinon
Von Destinon first began working at Cochise College in 1980 as Director of Admissions and Registrar. He left the college in 1985 to pursue his master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Arizona and returned in 1992 as Dean of Student Services in Sierra Vista. In 1999, von Destinon became a full-time psychology and sociology instructor on the Sierra Vista Campus. He was the first Psychology 101 online instructor, and he continues to teach online as a member of the college’s associate faculty.
Chuck Perry
Perry retired from Cochise College in 2011 after a 27-year career as a full-time faculty member in the aviation department. During his long and distinguished career with the college, he served as flight instructor and chief flight instructor. He was selected as the 1992 Arizona Flight Instructor of the Year by the Federal Aviation Administration Scottsdale Flight Standards District office.
Jan Guy
This year, the college will also honor Jan Guy as the first Trustee Emeritus. Guy was elected to the Cochise College Governing Board in Precinct 5 in 1994 and re-elected in 2000 and 2006. She served as the board’s chair from 1998 through 2003 and again from 2005 through 2012.
Last year, she was presented with a Lifetime Membership to the Association of Community College Trustees, which honors retiring board members for outstanding contributions to their colleges. Guy continues to serve on the Cochise College Foundation Board as vice president.
The special pinning ceremony recognizing this year’s nursing class will be at 7 p.m. May 16 at the Douglas Campus. About 120 students will participate, with first-year students recognized for earning certification and second-year students honored for earning their Associate of Applied Science degree, making them eligible to take the exam to become a registered nurse.