UNK communications

Undergraduate and graduate degrees for 452 will be conferred at commencement exercises 10 a.m. Friday at University of Nebraska at Kearney.

New MIAA commissioner Mike L. Racy will be the honored guest and commencement speaker for the exercises, with UNK Chancellor Douglas A. Kristensen presiding. UNK Health and Sports Center Arena is the site for the event. Doors to the venue open at 8:30 a.m.

Racy, soon-to-be Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Conference Commissioner, will deliver the address to the graduates. Racy becomes the fifth commissioner in the 105-year history of the MIAA in February 2017. A general litigation attorney, Racy has worked for the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a legislative assistant, assistant chief of staff, and vice president for Division II. He later was chief strategy officer and a vice president at University of Central Missouri. A longtime collegiate athletic consultant, Racy earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Washburn University, and his juris doctorate from University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Abbey Rhodes of Kearney is selected to give the senior class reflection. She will receive a Bachelor of Science in business administration with an emphasis in economics and finance, summa cum laude. Rhodes has been in leadership positions in numerous student organizations including president of Enactus. She won the Dean’s Academic Excellence Award, and holds memberships in honoraries Beta Gamma Sigma and Omicron Delta Upsilon.

The Choraleers, directed by UNK Professor of Music, Theater and Dance David Bauer, will perform a pre-commencement concert and processional, “Canzon Duodecimi Toni,” by Giovanni Gabrieli. The national anthem will be sung by Taylor Hubbard of Hastings.