GODFREY – Lewis and Clark Community College will celebrate its 52nd annual Commencement back on the Godfrey Campus this year and will feature two keynote speakers – Monticello College alumnae Carol Kempske and L&C Retiring Professor Gerald Mozur.
The ceremony will take place at 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at the Hatheway Cultural Center’s Ann Whitney Olin Theatre, after being held outdoors the past few years due to COVID.
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“Commencement is a celebration everyone on campus looks forward to every year,” said L&C President Ken Trzaska. “As much as it is an exciting event for our graduates, it also represents the culmination of our entire team’s devotion to helping students make the most of their experience here. We couldn’t be more excited to celebrate with them.”
Kempske will represent Monticello College as a keynote speaker. She attended Monticello, previously located on the grounds where L&C exists today, from 1957-1959. She earned a B.S. in Music Education, and a Master’s in Education, from the University of Maryland.
For 42 years, she taught elementary school music until retiring in 2003. For the past 20 years, she has used her talent and skills to build a robust and active community of residents at Collington Episcopal Life Care, a unique Life Plan community in suburban Washington, D.C.
“The class of 2023 is to be commended for their determination,” Kempske said. “Their education at Lewis and Clark is an incredible foundation on which they will build their future, and ours. I’m honored to be a keynote speaker this year and hope to instill even more pride in these outstanding graduates.”
Mozur, who is retiring from Lewis and Clark after 25 years, will represent the college as a keynote speaker this year.
“I am humbled and honored to be a speaker,” Mozur said. “It reflects well on the college to recognize an outgoing faculty member who has served for so long. I have had a great 25 years with L&C and I believe in its mission and its strength to continue in this uncertain time. We have good leaders and good people throughout the organization. As I step away, I know the community will be well-served in the future.”
During his time at the college, Mozur has taught every philosophy class the college offers. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Centre College of Kentucky, a Master of Arts in Philosophy from University of Kentucky and a doctorate in philosophy from Washington University, St. Louis.
Prior to joining L&C as a full-time faculty member in the fall of 1997, Mozur taught while completing his studies at the University of Kentucky from 1980-1985 and at Washington University from 1985-1989. He has held teaching positions at University of Missouri, St. Louis; Webster University; St. Louis Community College at both the Forest Park and Florissant Valley campuses.
In Spring 2021, he was L&C’s Illinois Community College Trustees Association (ICCTA) Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Member Award nominee.
Tickets are not required for this event, and seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis when the theatre doors open at 6 p.m. Guests and graduates needing accessibility accommodations should contact the L&C Center for Access and Accommodations at www.lc.edu/access.
To ensure that every graduate can have a guest in the theatre audience, the college does ask that graduates with more than four guests consider utilizing the overflow area in The Commons, where the ceremony will be streamed live.
Following the ceremony, graduates will join guests in The Commons for a reception in their honor, with refreshments and free L&C giveaways.
The ceremony will also be streamed live online by Riverbender.com. To access the livestream, or to find more information about the event, visit www.lc.edu/graduation.
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