On Fri., Dec. 14, Northwest Christian University’s Board of Trustees confer undergraduate and graduate degrees for 81 students during the University’s Fall Commencement Ceremony at 6 P.M. in the Morse Event Center located at the corner of West 11th Avenue and Alder Street in Eugene.
“The students graduating on Friday have met the challenges posed by academic rigor while balancing family, work, and campus responsibilities to earn a Christ-centered education,” said NCU President Joseph D. Womack, Ed.D. “We are proud of these graduates who will enter the workforce or continue in their professions as beacons of wisdom, faith, and service.”
Dr. Margaret Hamilton
Lane Community College President Margaret Hamilton, Ph.D., will be the commencement speaker. Dr. Hamilton joined Lane Community College as its seventh president on July 1, 2017. She is a widely respected executive in community college education, strategic planning, accreditation, curriculum development, human relations, workforce and economic development, and in building partnerships with post-secondary education, higher education, and business and industry. Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Womack recently signed the historic Titan to Beacon agreement creating pathways for Lane graduates to earn bachelor’s degrees at NCU.
Prior to Lane, Dr. Hamilton served as Vice President for Academic Affairs, Institutional Effectiveness and Planning at Camden County College, where she provided leadership for over 25,000 credit and non-credit students at three locations across southern New Jersey. Her 29-year career in higher education includes leadership positions in academic and student affairs, administrative services, and human resources and labor relations. Dr. Hamilton’s teaching experience in nursing education provided her an opportunity to share her clinical experiences working in urban centers such as Children’s Hospital in Norfolk Virginia, Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, New Jersey and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Hamilton holds a Ph.D. in Nursing Education from Widener University in Pennsylvania, a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Delaware and a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Her honors include a 2011 Spirit Award from the New Jersey Council of County Colleges in recognition for her outstanding service to two year institutions of higher education for work that personifies dedication and excellence in community colleges, as well as the Dean’s Citation in 2000 from the University of Medicine and Dentistry School of Health Related Professions, now Rutgers School of Health Professions, for outstanding contributions in allied health education.
Dr. Hamilton served on boards for the Collegiate Consortium of NJ-PA, Our Lady of Lourdes School of Nursing, New Jersey Society for Allied Health Professions and Mainstage Center for the Arts, as well as a commissioner on academic, student and community development for the American Association of Community Colleges, past chair for the New Jersey Academic Affairs Affinity Group and current member of Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society, AAUW and AACC. After establishing a global partnership with Nanyang Medical College in China, she was an honored guest at opening ceremonies at Nanyang Medical College in 2015, where she toured the Chinese Medicine College, gave a symposium to faculty, and lectures to students on western medicine and health care education in the United States.
Dr. Hamilton has been a reviewer for the Middle States Commission of Higher Education, a speaker on assessment and accreditation, health care education, faculty development, new program development and executive leadership, and serves as a consultant in higher education. She has been seen on Comcast News and quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Courier Post, SNJtoday.com, Lourdesnet.org/news, NJBMagazine.com and Camden County and Burlington CountyWomanMagazines NJ.com.
The main NCU parking lot will be open for parking, permit-free, beginning at 4 P.M., and city metered parking is located throughout the University district.