Commencement 2014: A return to campus

February 2, 2014

BUFFALO, NY - The pomp and circumstance for Commencement 2014 will be a bit more celebratory, as undergraduate ceremonies move back to Canisius following several decades off campus.

Scheduled for Saturday, May 17, in the Koessler Athletic Center, undergraduate commencement will include three ceremonies: One at which the entire graduating class hears from the commencement speaker, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Afterwards, there will be a separate ceremony for the College of Arts & Sciences and another for the School of Business and the School of Education and Human Services.

A Kenmore native, Blitzer is CNN’s lead political anchor and host of “The Situation Room.” He began his tenure at the network as its Pentagon correspondent and went on to cover the top stories, at home and abroad. Blitzer has interviewed every sitting U.S. president since Gerald Ford, as well former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, South African President Nelson Mandela and the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Another Kenmore native, Jon Luther, will address the graduate Class of 2014, during ceremonies on Wednesday, May 14 in the Koessler Athletic Center.

A veteran of the food-service industry, Luther is the retired chair and CEO of Dunkin’ Brands. He is credited with the transformation, revitalization and global expansion of its two iconic businesses – Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins. Luther expanded the businesses from their core Northeast region to key markets in the U.S. and abroad. He also modernized the menus and re-energized Dunkin’ Donuts’ marketing efforts, which led to the award-winning campaign, “America Runs on Dunkin’.”