St. Norbert College: Announces commencement speaker, honorary degrees

    De Pere, Wis.: 2004 St. Norbert College graduate Dr. Oluyemisi Adeyemi-Fowode, who serves as doctor of pediatric and adolescent gynecology at Texas Children’s Hospital and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine, will be St. Norbert College’s commencement speaker on Sunday, May 15, at 11 a.m., outdoors on the quad west of the Ray Van Den Heuvel Campus Center on the college’s De Pere campus. Baccalaureate Mass will take place on Saturday, May 14, at 4 p.m. in the same location.

    Follow www.snc.edu/commencement for changes to commencement or the Mass due to inclement weather.

    Adeyemi-Fowode, who started her college journey at the age of 15, graduated from St. Norbert College magna cum laude in 2004 at age 19 with a degree in chemistry (pre-med track). She was the student speaker for her graduating class that year. She went on to earn her medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 2009 and completed her residency at Baylor College of Medicine in 2013.
    Since graduating from St. Norbert, she served on the college’s board of trustees until 2011. In 2015, she was part of a 24-person surgical team that undertook the separation of 10-month-old conjoined twins at Texas Children’s Hospital. This historic surgery lasted nearly 26 hours.
   In March 2022, she opened Texas Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology in Houston, where she lives with her husband, Tosin, and their three children.
    Mark Stinski, Ph.D., will receive an honorary degree from St. Norbert where he began his journey into the medical research field. Stinski, a professor emeritus of microbiology at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine, has been recognized as a prominent researcher in virology.
    His laboratory discovered the CMV promoter, a protein-making tool that is useful in developing several therapeutic drugs. Researchers use the CMV promoter as a part of genetic and cellular research. It has resulted in more effective treatments for several major diseases, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
    Stinski was mentored by St. Norbert College professor Rev. Anselm Keefe during his two years at St. Norbert. Keefe taught a course on worldwide diseases and vaccinations that sparked Stinski’s interest in microorganisms and later helped Stinski transfer to Michigan State University to complete his undergraduate studies in microbiology. Stinski served on the FDA advisory panel that recommended emergency approval of the first U.S. vaccine (Pfizer) to combat COVID-19.

    Fred Schmidt, vice chair of the St. Norbert College Board of Trustees and a 1975 graduate of St. Norbert, will authorize the conferring of master’s and baccalaureate degrees. St. Norbert College President Brian Bruess, a 1990 SNC graduate, will award the degrees and diplomas with the assistance of David Bailey, associate vice president for academic affairs and professor of biology.

    There are 508 students in the 2022 graduating class, including 490 candidates for baccalaureate degrees and 18 candidates for master’s degrees.

    The Rev. James Neilson, O.Praem., assistant to the president for mission integration and a 1988 SNC graduate, will deliver the benediction.

    The student speaker at commencement is graduating senior Jonathan Contreras of Milwaukee. The national anthem will be sung by graduating senior Trent Larson of Greenville, Wis.; graduating senior Kassidy Freund of Fond du Lac, Wis., will serve as honor conductor.  

    For more information on St. Norbert College’s commencement, including livestreaming, go to www.snc.edu/commencement.  

St. Norbert College “Inside the Class of 2022” Numbers

315      Female

193      Male

Total    508

241      Bachelor of Arts

147      Bachelor of Business Administration

15        Bachelor of Music

87        Bachelor of Science

14        Master of Business Administration

4          Master of Theological Studies

253      Students who are graduating with honors

Graduates from 15 States:

            Alabama

            Arizona

            California

            Florida

            Iowa

            Illinois

            Indiana

            Kansas

            Michigan

            Minnesota

            New Hampshire

            Tennessee

            Texas

            Washington

            Wisconsin

Ethnic breakdown:

7          African American/Black

5          American Indian/Alaskan Native

3          Asian

16        Hispanic

9          Multiracial

9          Race/Ethnicity Unknown      

1          International Student (India)