{"id":118226,"date":"2020-01-15T10:38:50","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T17:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=118226"},"modified":"2020-01-16T09:56:06","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T16:56:06","slug":"seven-uccs-staff-and-family-members-graduate-in-fall-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=118226","title":{"rendered":"Seven UCCS staff and family members graduate in fall 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_8805.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_8805-750x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_8805-750x500.jpg 750w, https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_8805-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_8805.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Nan Kerr, executive assistant to vice chancellor of administration and finance Chuck Litchfield, graduated magna cum laude with her bachelor\u2019s degree in communication in fall 2019. &#8220;It was one of the most joyful days of my life,&#8221; she said.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four UCCS staff members and three family members of UCCS\nemployees were among more than 500 graduates who took part in the fall\ncommencement ceremony Dec. 20 at the Broadmoor World Arena. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was one of the most joyful days of my life,\u201d said Nan Kerr, executive assistant to vice chancellor of administration and finance Chuck Litchfield, who graduated magna cum laude with her bachelor\u2019s degree in communication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_8760.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_8760-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-118233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_8760-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_8760-750x500.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Mickey Meehan, who graduated magna cum laude with his bachelor&#8217;s degree in criminal justice, poses for a photo with his mother, budget director Suzanne Scott.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;My kids were so supportive through the whole journey. They helped me with homework, they helped me search for classes. I never knew what RateMyProfessor.com was, but they were all over that! As a family, we were all in it together.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kerr continued, &#8220;Even with all that, my kids told me I was romanticizing what it means to have a degree. But I don\u2019t agree with that. It feels just as great as I could have ever imagined. Graduation was one of the best days of my life. Top three, definitely.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many of the graduates took advantage of the tuition benefit provided to CU employees and qualified dependents. The tuition assistance benefit allows UCCS employees and their dependents to waive up to nine credits per academic year for undergraduate and graduate courses. For additional information, visit CU Employee Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Staff who earned degrees included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Krista Herring<\/strong>, program coordinator for membership and communications in Campus Recreation. Herring earned her master\u2019s degree in leadership in education.<\/li><li><strong>Nan Kerr<\/strong>, executive assistant to vice chancellor of administration and finance Chuck Litchfield. Kerr graduated magna cum laude with her bachelor\u2019s degree in communication.<\/li><li><strong>Rachel Menkhus<\/strong>, business intelligence analyst in the Office of Information Technology. Menkhus earned her master\u2019s degree in communication.<\/li><li><strong>Tyahna Orlowske<\/strong>, student employment advisor in the Office of Financial Aid, Student Employment and Scholarships. Orlowske earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in communication.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Family members of staff who earned degrees included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Mickey Meehan<\/strong>, son of budget director Suzanne Scott. He graduated summa cum laude with his bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice.<\/li><li><strong>Kristy Martinez<\/strong>, sister of Katie Harris, the director of undergraduate programs for the College of Business. She earned a master\u2019s degree in public administration.<\/li><li><strong>Steven Vigil<\/strong>, son of Stephanie Vigil, program assistant for the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in business.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The list of graduates only includes those that University Communications is aware of. If an omission was made, please email <a href=\"mailto:ur@uccs.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"ur@uccs.edu (opens in a new tab)\">ur@uccs.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Four UCCS staff members and three family members of UCCS employees were among more than 500 graduates who took part in the fall commencement ceremony Dec. 20 at the Broadmoor World Arena.  <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=118226\" title=\"Seven UCCS staff and family members graduate in fall 2019\">(More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":118231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,49,9],"tags":[53,44,291,40,82,114,86,39,42,131,144,64,190,266,77,60],"class_list":["post-118226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-campus-announcements","category-personnel","tag-academic-affairs","tag-administration-and-finance","tag-budget-office","tag-college-of-business","tag-college-of-education","tag-college-of-engineering-and-applied-science","tag-college-of-letters-arts-and-sciences","tag-college-of-public-service","tag-commencement","tag-department-of-communication","tag-department-of-mechanical-and-aerospace-engineering","tag-gallogly-recreation-and-wellness-center","tag-graduate-school","tag-office-of-financial-aid-student-employment-and-scholarships","tag-office-of-information-technology","tag-student-success"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_8805.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-uKS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118226"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118270,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118226\/revisions\/118270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/118231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}