Area colleges kick off commencements

Area college students are getting ready to bring a chapter of academic life to an end with spring commencement ceremonies beginning this weekend.

Troy University, Faulkner University and H. Councill Trenholm State Technical College will kick off ceremonies for area colleges Friday. Huntingdon College and Alabama State University will hold their exercises Saturday, while Tuskegee University will hold its ceremony Sunday.

ASU graduates will make history this year as the university will award its first doctorate degrees in microbiology. In the fall of 2008, ASU began offering the Ph.D. program in microbiology, serving as the university's first science-based research doctoral program.

Ceremonies will continue next weekend, with Auburn Montgomery's on May 14. Troy University Montgomery will graduate its students May 16, with U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, giving the commencement address.

Here is a list of area commencements and speakers:

• Troy University: 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday at Sartain Hall; Dr. Jeffrey Dugas, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist
• Faulkner: 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
  
  
  
  Friday at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center
• H. Councill Trenholm State Technical College: 6 p.m. Friday at the Montgomery Performing Arts Centre; Donta L. Wilson, president of BB&T Bank of Alabama
• Huntingdon College: 9 a.m. Saturday at the Green at the center of campus; Dr. Samuel Williamson, vice chancellor and president emeritus for Sewanee: The University of the South
• Alabama State University: 9:45 a.m. Saturday at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Cynthia Tucker
• Tuskegee University: 9:30 a.m. Sunday at The Daniel "Chappie" James Center; Tim Joyner, radio personality and philanthropist
• Auburn University: 9:30 a.m. Monday at Jordan-Hare Stadium; Robert Gibbs, former White House press secretary
• Auburn Montgomery: 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. May 14 at the AUM gymnasium; Kelli Wise, Alabama Supreme Court justice
• Troy Montgomery: 7 p.m. May 16 at the Davis Theatre for the Performing Arts; U.S. Rep. Martha Roby