Commencement Ceremony Honors Students, Distinguished Alumnus

Photo caption-Dr. Kuk Bom Shin, right, awaits the start of the College of Education commencement ceremonies with Dean Carole Ames, center, and Kathleen N. Swartz, left, chairperson-elect of the MSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors. Swartz presented Shin with the University Distinguished Alumni Award.

About 160 students received degrees at the College of Education’s commencement ceremonies in May at the Wharton Center.

The commencement speaker was Philip Cusick, chair of the Department of Educational Administration, who told graduates about the changing nature of teaching over the past half century, and who called on them to take up the challenge of remaking education in the next century.

"We know you can do it all," Cusick told the graduates. "And we know that because for years we argued that if educators were paid more, given more responsibility and public respect, then education as an enterprise would attract better people. The better people would solve the problems. Well, the pay, the responsibility, the respect are all in place. And you, graduating today and entering your first professional year, are the better people we’ve been waiting for. Now all you have to do is solve all the problems that we didn’t solve." [See the full text of his speech here.]

During the ceremony, the University Distinguished Alumni Award was presented to Kuk Bom Shin, a 1972 Ph.D. graduate of the Department of Educational Administration. The award recognizes attainment of the highest level of professional accomplishment, exemplary voluntary service, personal integrity, and character. It is the highest recognition given by the MSU Alumni Association to graduates of the university.

From 1988 to 1996, Shin was president of the Korea National University of Education, and is currently a professor of education at the university. In addition, he is president of the Korean Society for the Study of Education, and chairman of the Central Education Advisory Council at the Ministry of Education. Shin is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Yonsei University Alumni Association, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Dae-Sun Rural Cultural Foundation.

In all, more than 500 students in the College of Education received bachelor’s degrees in May. Six seniors were recognized for special achievement. Amanda Brusinski, an elementary education major from Westland, Michigan, was recognized for outstanding service to the college. Brusinki has represented the college in the Alumni Distinguished Scholarship presentations, Young Educators Society visits, and at the Teacher Recruitment Fair. Most recently, she has taken the lead in reinstating the Kappa Delta Pi Educational Honorary Society and has been elected president of that organization.

Brusinki delivered the student response on behalf of her classmates. Recognized for having the highest grade-point averages in their respective programs were: Kirstin Frederickson, a physical education major from Grand Ledge, 4.000; Tasha Tchozeski, an elementary major from Belding, 3.903; Lisa Bowser, a special education major from Traverse City, 4.00; Melissa Trelfa, a secondary education chemistry major from Alpena, Michigan, 3.973; and Elise Lubaway, a child development teaching major from Farmington Hills, 4.0.