Commencement Start Time: 8:30 a.m.

SHERMAN, TEXAS — Graduation activities for the Austin College Class of 2009 will be held May 16-17 for approximately 310 graduating seniors. Another 23 students will complete the Master of Arts in Teaching degree.  

Karl Travis, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, Texas, will present the Baccalaureate sermon Saturday, May 16, at 7 p.m. in Sid Richardson Center of the Robert T. Mason Athletic/Recreation Complex.

Karl Travis

Ordained in 1991, he began his ministry as a pastoral intern at St. Andrew’s Church in Clemiston, Scotland. He then spent eight years as pastor at Westminister Presbyterian Church in Roswell, New Mexico, and then seven years at Grosse Ile Presbyterian Church in Grosse Ile, Michigan, before taking his current pastorate in 2007. He is a frequent preacher and retreat speaker, chairs the denomination’s Special Offerings Task Force, and has served on numerous presbytery, synod, and general assembly committees. 

Travis serves on the boards of Fort Worth’s Presbyterian Night Shelter, the James L.   West Alzheimer’s Center, Trinity Terrace retirement facility, Presbyterian Endowment and Education Resource Network, and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. 

He graduated magna cum laude from Trinity University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was awarded an Honours Bachelor of Divinity in ethics and practical theology from The University of Edinburgh in Scotland and studied at San Francisco Theological Seminary.  Travis will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Austin College during the Commencement ceremony.  

The 2009 Commencement exercises will begin Sunday, May 17, at 8:30 a.m. on the Clyde L. Hall Graduation Court, north of Caruth Administration Building. In case of rain, tickets, which have been distributed to graduates, are required for admittance and a rain plan will be posted on the College Web site.

Students’ years of study will culminate as they receive their diplomas from Austin College President Oscar C. Page as Michael Imhoff, vice president for Academic Affairs and dean of the faculty, calls the name of each graduate. College marshal is George M. Diggs, professor of biology.

Oscar C. Page

The Commencement address will be presented by Austin College President Oscar C. Page, who has served the College for 15 years and will step down as president at the end of June. During his tenure at Austin College, Page has led the College in considerable growth, both in buildings and programs. He has raised funds to complete more than $100 million worth of capital improvements on campus, including construction of several facilities, significant renovation of others, and a comprehensive landscaping project.  

Page has led the effort to make 300 new scholarships available to students, add 20 new tenure-rack faculty positions, enrich the curriculum through the addition of four majors and eight minors, create four new academic centers, increase the size of the student body, and bolster the student profile through an increase in the SAT average of new students.  

Parth Shah of Murphy, Texas, was selected by his classmates to serve as senior speaker at Commencement.

Parth Shah

Also, selected as Outstanding Senior Man, Parth has completed majors in biology and religion. During his Austin College experience, he has held offices in Chi Tau Chi fraternity, Indian Cultural Association, Hockey Club, and Student Assembly. He also has been involved with the Biology Interest Group and Student Development Board and taken part in a wide variety of campus activities. 

Members of the Class of 1959 will be on campus throughout the weekend for 50-year reunion activities. Class members in attendance will receive 50-year anniversary diplomas and medallions from President Page at a dinner in the graduates’ honor Friday, May 15. The anniversary graduates will be recognized during Commencement exercises. Other Golden ’Roos, alumni of 50 or more years ago, also take part in reunion activities. 

Austin College is a leading national independent liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas. Founded in 1849, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original charter and name, the college is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA). Recognized nationally for academic excellence in the areas of international education, pre-professional training, and leadership studies, Austin College is one of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges that Change Lives.