Farquhar Graduation This Sunday Kicks Off NSU Month-Long Celebration; President Ray Ferrero, Jr. Expected to Greet Each Graduate On Stage.

News & Lifestyle Editors/Education Writers

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 2000

A month-long series of graduations kicks off this Sunday, April 30, as Nova Southeastern University's Farquhar Center for Undergraduate Studies honors 614 students with their degrees at 2 p.m. at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida. It is the first of five NSU graduations this year, with others following on May 21 (Law, 2 p.m. at the Sunrise Musical Theatre), May 28 (Health Professions, 2 p.m. at the National Car Rental Center) and June 11 (Education, Oceanography, and Social and Systemic Studies, beginning at 10 a.m., and Business, Psychology, and Computer Science beginning at 3 p.m. Both will be held at the National Car Rental Center.).

More than 2,500 candidates will make their way onstage in the next five weeks to receive their diplomas from Nova Southeastern University, and each of them will be greeted by Ray Ferrero, Jr. In his third year as president of NSU, Ferrero will personally shake the hand of each outgoing student as they receive their respective diplomas -- something he's done since his first ceremonies in 1998.

NSU's graduation festivities kick off this Saturday, April 29, at 7 p.m. with The Knight Before, a gala to honor undergraduates and their families prior to Sunday's graduation. Held just southeast of NSU's Gold Circle Lake (between the Horvitz Administration and Mailman-Hollywood Buildings), the event will feature adult student Melody Smith, and will honor NSU professors Tom Moeschl and Rebecca Abrahams. Smith, a psychology major, is donating $5,000 to NSU's Farquhar Center for Undergraduate Studies to initiate an endowment for NSU's faculty. Abrahams -- a full-time business professor -- will receive $3,000, while Moeschl -- a part-time psychology professor -- will receive $2,000. She is also presenting professional development awards for two psychology faculty to attend the Nueropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Recipients of this year's award are psychology professors Nicola Shutte and John Malouff.

"It is time for us to recognize those people who have been germane to our success as students," Smith said. "It is time for us to thank them, and -- most importantly -- to give back to them. After all, giving back is the bottom line."

Other NSU graduation notes, quotes and anecdotes include:

-- Nancy Bryant has been trying to complete her degree for 30 years.
In-between, the 48-year-old from Vero Beach, Florida has lived and taught
school in Venezuela. She's been co-owner of a macadamia plantation in Costa
Rica and a children's entertainment company. She's also owned her own public
relations/marketing firm and has been a professional model/actress. In the past
2 1/2 years she has put her life on hold to complete her lifelong goal of
obtaining a bachelor's in business management.

-- Felice Crammer, now 56-years-old and living in Coral Springs, Florida, first
returned to school in 1990 after being out of high school since 1961. She
started at Broward Community College, and is now graduating from NSU as a
member of the dean's list with a bachelor's in psychology. She accomplished
this while working full-time in her own insurance brokerage firm and part-time
in helping her husband, Ed, in his C.P.A. practice. She has already started her
master's education in marriage and family psychology at St. Thomas University.

-- When Yvonne Grace Chambers, now 49, first received her associate's degree in
education in 1977 in Jamaica, she was two months pregnant with her daughter,
Sacha. Twenty-three years later, both mother and daughter will be receiving
diplomas, Yvonne--a Miramar, Florida resident--receiving her bachelor's in
elementary education, and Sacha her bachelor's in paralegal studies.

-- Tanya Henriquez is a 31-year-old single mom from Miami, Florida who became
pregnant with her daughter at 18 and never married. At 21 she began working
with Nortel Networks, traveling throughout South America and the Caribbean. She
left a year ago in preparation for this September's opening of her own
business, The Garden Boutique, an ornament, accessory and gift store for the
garden enthusiast. After attending business classes at NSU part-time in the
evenings for the past six years, she will pick up her bachelor's degree in
management this Sunday.

-- Ann Page, 49, will gleefully state of how much she's loved receiving her
education at NSU the past few years. However, the Dania Beach resident who is
earning a bachelor's degree in legal studies will also admit that the most
educational experience of her life remains the three-year period just prior to
attending NSU, when she was an interviewer of Holocaust survivors for director
Steven Spielberg. "I interviewed 50 survivors, and I will tell you, to
physically sit across from a person who survived life in a concentration camp
-- to look into their eyes and hear their personal story -- is a gift," Page
said. "We take so many things for granted, but these survivors cherish every
breath. It gives you a great perspective on life."

-- Caroline Johnson is a health success story. The 45-year-old Sunrise, Florida
resident was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. After going through surgery
and facing many complications, along with the task of facing radiation and
chemotherapy, she came to work at NSU's Baudhuin Oral School as a teacher's
aide. She then became an administrative assistant and began taking classes at
the university. However, since this past February, she's been on medical leave
from NSU. However, she finished her degree online, and will graduate with her
bachelor's degree in professional management. She plans on attending graduate
school at NSU.

For more information on NSU's graduations, contact Mike Laderman, NSU's associate director of public affairs, at [phone].