CBU celebrates record commencement, Rwanda partnership

RIVERSIDE (May 7, 2012) – California Baptist University (CBU) graduated a record number of students during spring commencement ceremonies on May 4-5, surpassing the 1,000-graduate mark for the fourth consecutive year. The Class of 2012 numbered 1,330 graduates, the largest in the 62-year history of CBU.

Dr. Ronald L. Ellis, CBU President, conferred degrees on a total of 281 graduate students and 786 undergraduates in separate ceremonies on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Another 263 students were eligible to graduate at the December 2011 commencement ceremony.

Saturday's undergraduate commencement speaker was the Right Honorable Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Rwanda, who recognized the graduation of 12 Rwandan students among the class of 2012. The Prime Minister congratulated all of the graduates on behalf of Rwanda's president, His Excellency Paul Kagame, and the Rwandan people.

"As your friends and family, we share in your joy and are very proud of what you have accomplished in the course of your undergraduate education, both in and outside the classroom," Habumuremyi said. "It is now incumbent upon you all to put to good use the knowledge and skills you have acquired from CBU and your passion to learn."

The Rwandan official expressed pride in the first cohort of Rwandan students to receive their baccalaureate degrees under a presidential education agreement California Baptist University established with the East African nation in 2007.

"Rwanda's sons and daughters, attending CBU under the Presidential Scholarship program have over the last four years carried out the unique responsibility of being Rwanda's first ambassadors to CBU, and I am confident that they will go on to serve with distinction as CBU's ambassadors to Rwanda when they return home," Habumuremyi said.

Dr. Richard L. "Rick" Miller, Superintendent of Riverside Unified School District spoke at graduate ceremonies held Friday evening. Miller told students receiving master's degrees that they were "joining the top 10 percent nationally in educational attainment" and said that privilege comes with a responsibility.

"As a member of the top 10 percent you will be responsible for leadership in our society," Miller told the graduates. "You have been equipped by your professors and staff here at CBU, so there is little question that you know what to do. Now the question becomes, what will you do and will you make a difference?"

2012 Undergraduate Commencement

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2012 Graduate Commencement

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