Let the graduations commence!

NEWS RELEASE

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE UNIVERSITY

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SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – Dr. David Wilson, president of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, will be the featured speaker when Lake Superior State University celebrates its 53rd annual commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 2.

The program begins at 11 a.m., and will feature presentation of an honorary doctorate to LSSU alumnus and volunteer Charles Schmidt, Rochester Hills, and words from Sault Ste. Marie graduate Sam Gilbert.

Nearly 600 students have qualified for degrees over the past year, and although not all of them will participate in Saturday’s program due to new jobs and other commitments, the majority of them will be walking across the stage to receive their diplomas.

The ceremony will also include the official installment of Tom Pleger as LSSU’s eighth president, and announcement of this year’s recipient of the LSSU Distinguished Teaching Award. The public is welcome. 

Wilson, the 12th president of Morgan State University, has a long record of accomplishments and more than 30 years of experience in higher education administration.

Before his appointment at Morgan State, he was chancellor of both the University of Wisconsin Colleges, and the University of Wisconsin–Extension.

Before that, he held numerous other administrative posts in academia, including vice president and associate provost at Auburn University, and associate provost of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Wilson’s educational philosophy is to put the students’ experience first.

As a leader, he is a consensus builder and a strong believer in transparency of process. 

“I’ve always tried to create an atmosphere where I work so people don’t see what they do as a job,” he says. “It’s a calling.”

Wilson has written two books and more than 20 articles.

Among his many honors, he was named one of the nation’s top 100 leaders in higher education by the American Association of Higher Education in 1998, was selected as one of The Daily Record newspaper’s Influential Marylanders for 2011, and was honored by the University of Alabama with an award for outstanding leadership in engaged scholarship in 2011.

He is a member of President Barack Obama’s national Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 

Wilson grew up with 10 siblings on a sharecropper farm outside the small town of McKinley, Alabama.

Through hard work, tenacity and the encouragement of his father and teachers, he became the first in his family to attend college.

He holds four degrees: a B.S. in political science and an M.S. in education from Tuskegee University; a master’s degree in educational planning and administration from Harvard University; and a doctorate in administration, planning and social policy, also from Harvard.

Honorary doctorate recipient Charles (Chuck) Schmidt, Rochester Hills, is a familiar face to campus. His acceptance of an honorary doctorate comes on the heels of receiving the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the LSSU Alumni Association in 2011.

This isn’t Schmidt’s first time on stage since his graduation in 1975.

As a member of the LSSU Board of Trustees from 2002-2010, he often joined administration on the platform.

He has kept up his connection with LSSU since then, serving on the LSSU Foundation as chair of the executive committee as well as leading the Considine Hall campaign committee.

Both he and his wife, Laurie (Pingatore) ’74, a registered nurse, have been committed to LSSU since they graduated.

They have been generous donors to the business building campaign and have supported business and nursing scholarships.

“I am truly humbled and honored to receive this honorary degree,” said Schmidt. “I have thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of my relationship with Lake State. It provided me with an excellent foundation to start my business career and, more important, helped shape the person I am today.”

Schmidt is a founding partner and portfolio manager for Seizert Capital Partners LLC, an investment firm founded in 2000 in Birmingham, Michigan that manages over $5 billion in capital for pension and profit sharing plans, endowment and foundations and private clients.

Previously, he was a portfolio manager and co-manager of the Investment Counsel Group for Loomis Sayles and Co. from 1993-2000; vice president of Continental Bank, Chicago, 1988-92; and held positions with First of America Bank.

Schmidt holds a bachelor of science degree in finance and economics from LSSU, and his master's degree in business administration from Western Michigan University.

He and Laurie have two children: Megan Maguire (Nik), Erika Thomas (M. Justin) and two grandchildren.

Student respondent Sam Gilbert embraced the opportunities afforded to him through LSSU’s close community and personalized instruction, and turned them in to a career.

The December graduate started his new job on April 1 as an analyst for J.P. Morgan in Birmingham, Michigan.

Gilbert, a finance and economics major, said when it came time to go to college, he knew right away that he would choose Lake State.

“I wanted to stay in the same town where I grew up,” he said. “I grew up as a Laker fan, so I’ve been a part of this atmosphere and this environment my whole life. So I wanted to stay close to home.” Both of his parents are LSSU graduates, too.

On campus, the former Sault Area High School basketball player used his love of sports to find a job working as an assistant for Laker hockey.

He also worked for LSSU’s Superior Edventures, and as a student manager at the Walker Cisler Center.

In addition to working on campus, he was secretary of finance and project manager for Enactus – formerly Students In Free Enterprise – was part of Student Government’s Discretionary Funding Committee, was the Investment Club’s portfolio manager, and was a member of the College Republicans.

With Enactus, he participated in two national competitions, and he joined fellow Investment Club members at the Global Asset Management Education summit in New York City.

Due in part to his work in 2014, the Investment Club took first place this year for its risk-adjusted return portfolio in GAME’s Undergraduate Core Division, competing against 154 schools in 39 states and a few foreign countries.

He was recognized for his academic success with several scholarships, including Central Savings Bank Scholarship, School of Business Lambda Sigma Beta Scholarship, Robert Hunt Memorial Scholarship, and Warren Parker Family Scholarship.

He was also a member of the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society and Sigma Beta Delta Honor Society. 

Since he finished his requirements for graduation in December, Gilbert has been studying for the three-part Chartered Financial Analyst exam that he will begin to take in June, and has started his new job, where he hopes to help others benefit from his investment experience.

Gilbert is the son of Michele and the late Thomas Gilbert.

He has one sister, Jessica.

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(PHOTO: Dr. David Wilson, president of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. LSSU/John Shibley)