{"id":189487,"date":"2026-05-11T20:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/189487\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T20:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:23:08","slug":"university-of-scranton-class-of-2026-graduate-commencement-speaker-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/189487\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Scranton Class of 2026 Graduate Commencement Speaker Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"

A trailblazing member of a landmark graduating class\u00a0in\u00a0The University of Scranton\u2019s history,\u00a0Karen L. Pennington, Ph.D. \u201976, G\u201983, H\u201915,\u00a0will return to deliver remarks as the keynote speaker at this year\u2019s graduate commencement ceremony.<\/p>\n

Dr. Pennington,\u00a0who led strategic initiatives\u00a0and\u00a0managed complex departments through\u00a0periods of growth and transition as a senior director in higher education,\u00a0holds three degrees from Scranton\u00a0and also\u00a0worked\u00a0for five years\u00a0at her alma mater.\u00a0Notably, her undergraduate class, the Class of 1976, was the\u00a0University\u2019s first undergraduate, full-time student class to include women.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs one of the first women to graduate from The University of Scranton, Dr. Pennington\u2019s role in the history of\u00a0our\u00a0institution cannot be understated. It is through such moments that values take\u00a0root\u00a0and communities learn how to grow toward greater justice and belonging,\u201d said Joseph G. Marina, S.J., University president. \u201cDr. Pennington has a keen understanding of this concept, as it has informed her own leadership in higher education, marked by inclusion and a steady commitment to the wellbeing and dignity of students and communities alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s graduate commencement<\/a>\u00a0will begin at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, May 24, at Mohegan Arena in Wilkes-Barre Township. Doors open at 3:45 p.m. The undergraduate commencement will be held earlier in the day, beginning at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n

After receiving a bachelor\u2019s degree in history from Scranton, Dr. Pennington worked at Gannon University and Ohio University before returning to her alma mater in 1980. Over the next five years\u00a0at Scranton, she was an associate dean of students and director of student activities whose duties included managing the production of all activities for\u00a050 co-curricular student organizations and overseeing the functions of elected student government and class officers.<\/p>\n

From Scranton, Dr. Pennington held positions at the State University of New York at New Paltz and State University of New York at Geneseo until landing in January 1998 at Montclair State University in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Dr. Pennington worked at Montclair State for 22-plus\u00a0years as vice president for student development and campus life.\u00a0As\u00a0its\u00a0chief student affairs officer, Dr. Pennington was one of seven vice presidents who, with the president, set the university\u2019s general policy and direction.\u00a0She\u00a0was\u00a0responsible for\u00a0hiring and developing staff;\u00a0supervising\u00a0and\u00a0coordinating\u00a023 departments and 300-plus\u00a0employees; and serving as a media spokesperson for all activities involving students. Shortly before retiring in 2021, Dr. Pennington was awarded\u00a0Montclair State\u2019s\u00a0Scott Goodnight Award for Outstanding Performance as a Dean from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.<\/p>\n

Dr. Pennington credits The University of Scranton\u00a0as being\u00a0a formative and deeply influential part of her life. In particular, she says\u00a0John R. Gavigan \u201942, former vice president of student affairs and namesake of the University\u2019s Gavigan Hall, instilled in her an appreciation for the purpose of serving and helping college students.<\/p>\n

Dr. Pennington received an honorary degree in 2015 from The University of Scranton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A trailblazing member of a landmark graduating class\u00a0in\u00a0The University of Scranton\u2019s history,\u00a0Karen L. Pennington, Ph.D. \u201976, G\u201983, H\u201915,\u00a0will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[81353,22946,10605,22947,178,180,179,84458,274],"class_list":["post-189487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-class-of-2026","tag-commencement","tag-graduate","tag-graduation","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-speaker","tag-the-university-of-scranton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}