In five days, 977 students will graduate from Westminster College. That’s a record for the private liberal arts school.
The 2014 graduating class includes 610 undergraduates and 367 graduate students. It’s made up of students from 35 U.S. States and more than two dozen foreign countries.
John Baworowsky is Vice President for Enrollment Management. He says a variety of degree programs have motivated more undergraduate and graduate students to enroll at Westminster.
“On the one hand, some of our undergraduate programs like aviation and flight management have become more popular,” Baworowsky says. “And some graduate programs as well like Masters of Public Health and Westminster has also been reaching out. We’ve been sending some of our deans, some of our admissions staff to recruit in other countries.”
This fall, Baworowsky says the school anticipates an increase of about 17 percent in the total new student population.
He adds in addition to enrollment growth, more people are completing degrees.
This year’s commencement speaker is Javier P Palomarez, President and CEO of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Baworowsky says the Hispanic population at Westminster is growing slowly but steadily.
“We saw it as a great opportunity to take a real business leader of the world and invite him to become part of our commencement and link us to the Hispanic Community in Salt Lake,” Baworowsky says.
Westminster College last hit a record in 2012, when 947 students graduated.
Commencement is scheduled for this Saturday
