Dr. Howard Keim, president of Hesston College, has announced that two faculty and staff members will deliver the 9 a.m. commencement address Sunday, May 3 to graduates in the class of 2009. The service will be held in Yost Center.

Dr. Jim Yoder is chair of the chemistry department, while Jim Mason is director of Campus Facilities. “Both have served Hesston College with distinction, with significant interaction with students,” Keim noted. “Both have had their work recognized outside the institution,” Keim added.

Mason has spearheaded energy conservation measures at the college since he became director in 2002 that have caught the attention of the international Energy Council, as well as Kansas State Senator Carolyn McGinn and other state legislators. McGinn, a Republican from Sedgwick, Kan., represents the 31st District, which includes Harvey County and northeast Sedgwick County.

Yoder recently received a National Science Foundation grant that will allow him to teach and conduct research at Wichita State University this summer. As a result, Yoder expects to be able to do some research with second-year chemistry students at Hesston College.

Earlier, Yoder received a J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship to lecture and do research in the chemistry department at the University of Swaziland for the 2007-08 academic year.

Yoder graduated from Hesston College in 1962; Mason in 1975.

Gloria Solis, a 1980 graduate of Hesston College, will address the 46 nursing graduates during the 10 a.m. nursing pinning ceremony Saturday, May 2, at Hesston Mennonite Church. Solis is chief nursing and operating officer at St. Luke’s East in Lee’s Summit, Mo.

At the Pastoral Ministries commissioning service for five graduates, Clarence Rempel, pastor of First Mennonite Church, Newton, Kan., will bring the message. That service begins at 1 p.m., Saturday, May 2 at Hesston Mennonite Church.

Elsewhere, six Disaster Management students and six aviation students will be recognized for completing their course of study. And Larkfest, slated for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2, will recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of the class of 2009.

Other weekend activities include the fourth annual “Lark Open” Friday, May 1, and three performances of student-directed one act plays at 7 p.m., April 30, 7 p.m., May 1, and 1 p.m. May 2.

For more information, contact the Alumni and Church Relations Office at 866-437-7866 (866-HESSTON); locally at 620-327-8109; or e-mail alumni@hesston.edu.