Graduate students

Mount Mercy University honored 80 new master’s degree candidates during a traditional hooding ceremony on Friday, May 19, in Hennessey Recreation Center. The candidates walked across the stage to receive their diplomas during commencement exercises on Sunday, May 19, at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

President Christopher Blake welcomed family, friends and faculty to the hooding ceremony and recognized the work and achievement of the candidates in Mount Mercy’s four graduate programs: the Master of Business Administration (MBA), the Master of Arts in Education (MAEd), the Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT), and the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN).

Student speakers included Amy Flemming, representing the MAEd program; Bradly Groothuis representing the MBA program, Joanna Kelly-Heigis representing the MFT program; and Hillary Recker representing the MSN program.

This was the fourth hooding ceremony in Mount Mercy’s history. Graduate programs launched at Mount Mercy in 2008 and currently hold nearly 300 graduate students. Including this year’s cohort, Mount Mercy now has over 240 alumni from the graduate programs. In fall 2012, Mount Mercy announced plans to construct the Mount Mercy University CRST International Graduate Center, with an expected completion and opening in fall 2013.