This spring, 1,348 students will graduate from Southeast Missouri State University, including 1,092 undergraduate students and 256 master's and specialist students.

Graduation will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 17, in the Show Me Center.

The keynote speaker at this year's spring commencement will be Dr. Muriel Howard, the president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

An Honors Convocation to honor 422 graduates' outstanding academic achievements will be held at 10:30 a.m. before the graduation ceremony.

Dr. Walt Lilly, a professor of biology in the Department of Biology and the recipient of the 2013 PRIDE Award at Southeast, will be the main speaker at the Honors Convocation.

Of the 422 students that will be honored at the Honors Convocation, 70 students will graduate summa cum laude [3.9 to 4.0 GPA], 102 will graduate magna cum laude [3.75 to 3.89 GPA] and 194 will graduate cum laude [3.5 to 3.74 GPA].

Another portion of the Honors Convocation will be dedicated to honoring eight students who will graduate with academic distinction and 43 who will gain recognition from the university as Honors Scholars.

Along with these honors, 27 students graduating with a 4.0 grade point average will be recognized at the graduation ceremony.

Riley Camp, a Southeast student will sing the "Star Spangled Banner" to begin the graduation ceremony and Joseph Moore of Cape Girardeau will sing Southeast's Alma Mater. The Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra, directed by professor of music Sara Edgerton, will perform throughout the ceremony.

Howard has been working in the field of education since the 1970s and has held various positions at universities in New York, such as the vice president for public service and urban affairs at the University of Buffalo and as the president of Buffalo State College. In 2009, Howard became the first African-American and the first female president of the AASCU. Through her role as the AASCU president, Howard is an advocate for higher learning and education and works to promote initiatives that improve public higher education.

"I hope they will appreciate the fact that they've gotten a public education, that they've gone through a public higher education system, and in some ways therefore they are prepared to lead and mentor people from a diverse walk of life because they've engaged with, you know, people from all different walks of life, different countries, different ethnicities, different backgrounds [and] a lot of the students will be first-generation students," Howard said. "I hope that they see their experience at Southeast as unique and special and that the faculty there has prepared them well. I think they'll be successful."

Diane Sides, associate to the president and assistant secretary to the Board of Regents, said that Howard is a good friend of university President Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins and that choosing her to speak at this graduation was an easy decision.

"Obviously she has a lot of background in higher [education], and so she was just a great choice," Sides said.

Sides said she thinks Howard will have an impact on students and will leave a lasting impression at graduation.

"If anybody can and will have a lasting impact it would be Dr. Howard," Sides said. "I do look forward to hearing what she has to say."

Howard said she will address the graduates with a message of acknowledgment and encouragement.

"Well, I'm mainly going to talk about the importance of the accomplishments the students have made," Howard said. "They have, you know, really been successful, and I'll talk a little bit about what I think it will take for them to continue to be successful as they move on now and into their careers or into the military or into other graduate school opportunities."

Howard said that she is looking forward to further speaking to the graduates about their futures.

"I'm just looking forward to the day, there's always great excitement at commencements," Howard said. "And you know for the faculty and staff and all of the speakers and the family members it's so special because all these young people and adults, everybody's been supporting them and trying to help them to get to this point."

Howard will leave the students with a lasting message of hope for the future and congratulations.

"I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to congratulate all of the students that are graduating and to share in the celebration that they'll be having with their families," Howard said. "So, you know, it's very exciting."