On Saturday, June 4, 2005, at 10 a.m., commencement exercises for Ohio University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine will be held at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. The members of OU-COM’s Class of 2005, its 26^th graduating class, will receive doctor of osteopathic medicine degrees. The commencement is held separately from Ohio University’s general graduate commencement.

The class is composed of 96 members — 55 males and 41 females — which includes 24 minority students. Seven members of the class are residents of Southeastern Ohio.

Thomas J. Moyer, J.D., chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, will be the keynote speaker at the medical school’s graduation.

This is Moyer’s second visit to OU-COM. At the 2004 Convocation Ceremony last September, he commended the college for instituting an honor code for its medical students.

A Sandusky native, Moyer earned his bachelor and J.D. degrees at The Ohio State University. Before becoming chief justice, he served eight years on the Court of Appeals for Franklin County, four years as executive assistant to the governor and for eight years was in private practice. Moyer has served as chief justice since 1987.

Moyer is past president of the Columbus Board of Education and the Columbus Bar Association. He received the American Judicature Society Award for improving the administration of justice in Ohio. In 1991, Ohio State Bar Association presented him the Ohio Bar Medal, its highest award, for his service to the profession. From 1995–96, he served as chairman of the national Conference of Chief Justices.

Ohio University President Roderick McDavis, Ph.D., will act as presiding officer, while Alan Geiger, Ph.D., a member of the university’s board of trustees, will convene the commencement. Also speaking at the graduation will be Jody Jerome, a representative of the Class of 2005; Jeffrey Stanley, D.O. (’82), president of the Ohio Osteopathic Association; and Thomas Anderson, D.O. (’83), president of the OU-COM Society of Alumni and Friends.

OU-COM Dean Jack Brose, D.O., will present the outstanding student awards, including the Osteopathic Heritage Award, Dean’s Award, Family Practice Award, Specialty Medicine Award, Obstetrics and Gynecology Award, Pediatrics Award, Geriatric Medicine/Gerontology Award-Ohio Department of Aging, Social Medicine-Medical Humanities Award, Biomedical Science Award, Student D.O. of the Year Award and the Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education site awards.

Following the Moyer’s address, Provost Kathy Krendl, Ph.D., will present the Class of 2005 and President McDavis will preside over the conferral of degrees. Brose, who will hood each graduate, says that the commencement exercises always fill him with great emotion.

“Graduation is an emotional experience for me; it always has been,” says Brose. “I am always moved by watching medical students walk to the stage as laymen and return to their seat as physicians. I consider it an enormous honor to hood our new physicians, administer the Osteopathic Oath and be the first to call them ‘doctor.’

“This also is a very special class to me. The Class of 2005 is the first class to spend four years at OU-COM with me as dean. Its members are enormously talented and made a real mark on our medical school in terms of their academic performance, professionalism and service to our college. I am very proud that my son, Steve, who was in his first year of medical school when I became dean, is an outstanding member of this exceptional class.”

Following the conferral of degrees, Brose will lead the class in reciting the Osteopathic Oath, which will be followed by the singing of “Alma Mater, Ohio.”