California University of Pennsylvania will mark its 181st Commencement with separate ceremonies for undergraduate and graduate students.

• Ceremonies for graduate students will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 11 in the Cal U Convocation Center. Master’s degree candidates will be vested in their academic hoods during the ceremony.

• Ceremonies for bachelor’s and associate degree candidates will begin at 10 a.m. Dec. 12, also in the Convocation Center.

     More than 565 undergraduates and 645 graduate students will receive their degrees, although not all will attend the ceremonies. Interim University President Geraldine M. Jones will confer the degrees and personally greet each graduate who walks across the stage. Graduates’ families and friends are welcome to attend.

  In keeping with Cal U’s tradition of inviting distinguished alumni to address the graduates, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Alan R. Lynn, Class of 1979, will speak at both ceremonies. Lynn recently stepped into dual roles as director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), a combat support agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, and commander of the Joint Force Headquarters–Department of Defense Information Networks (DoDIN), based at Fort Meade, Md.

     As DISA’s director, he leads a global organization of some 15,000 civilian and military personnel responsible for the U.S. military’s command-and-control capabilities, and an information technology infrastructure that directly supports the President, Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, combatant commanders, Department of Defense components, and other mission partners.

   As commander of Joint Force Headquarters–DoDIN, Lynn is responsible for coordinating efforts to secure and defend key elements of the military’s worldwide network of computer systems. The year-old Joint Force Headquarters works cooperatively in cyberspace with a number of other military organizations.

   Lynn joined the U.S. Army in 1979, and he transferred to the Signal Corps in 1984. His military career has included command assignments at every rank from captain to lieutenant general. He served overseas during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and he directed firefighters at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, keeping Defense communications operational despite the terrorist attack. His domestic assignments have taken him to U.S. Army bases across the country.

   Among his numerous military awards and decorations are the Defense Superior Service Medal, a Legion of Merit, two Bronze Star Medals and a Defense Meritorious Service Medal.

Lynn holds a master’s degree in national resource management from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and a bachelor’s degree in English from Cal U, where he was an ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate.

     Both ceremonies can be viewed live online at www.calu.edu. For more information about California University’s 2015 Winter Commencement, visit www.calu.edu/events/commencement.

   California University of Pennsylvania is a proud member of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

     Learn more about Cal U at www.calu.edu.