Shenandoah University celebrates its 2013 Commencement in the Smith Library Plaza on Saturday, May 11, at 1:45 p.m. It is expected that 241 August 2012 graduates and 286 December 2012 graduates will join the 669 May candidates for degrees during the celebration this Saturday.
Former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu will deliver the commencement address and will be awarded the honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Shenandoah University. Founder and Director of the Farm Midwifery Center (Summertown, Tenn.) Ina May Gaskin, M.A., C.P.M., will be awarded the honorary Doctor of Science.
Sununu served as the 75th Governor of New Hampshire, over the course of three consecutive terms from 1983-88, before his appointment as White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush. He also served as counselor to the president. He is president of JHS Associates Ltd. and a former partner in Trinity International Partners, a private financial firm.
He was commissioned Chief of Staff to the President of the United States on January 21, 1989, and served in the White House until March 1, 1992. As chief of staff, Sununu oversaw the daily operations of the White House and its staff. He became New Hampshire’s chief executive on January 6, 1983, and assumed office with a background of nearly 20 years of experience as an educator, engineer, small businessman and community leader.
Gaskin has attended more than 1,200 births and is author of “Spiritual Midwifery,” “Guide to Childbirth,” “Guide to Breastfeeding” and “Birth Matters: A Midwife’s Manifesta.” For 22 years she published “Birth Gazette,” a quarterly magazine covering health care, childbirth and midwifery issues.
Gaskin has lectured widely to midwives and physicians throughout the world, and she is known for her promotion of a low-intervention but extremely effective method for dealing with one of the most-feared birth complications, shoulder dystocia. The Gaskin maneuver is the first obstetrical procedure to be named for a midwife, and it has been adopted by a growing number of practitioners. Her statistics for breech deliveries and her teaching video on the subject have helped to spark a reappraisal of the policy of automatically performing Cesarean sections for all breech babies.
She was President of Midwives’ Alliance of North America from 1996 to 2002. In 2003 she was chosen as visiting fellow of Morse College, Yale University.
Shenandoah University’s May Commencement Ceremony is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, 2013, at the Smith Library Plaza, located on the main campus of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. The rain date for the ceremony will be Sunday, May 12, 2013, at 10 a.m.
Visit www.su.edu/graduation for more details on Shenandoah University’s 2013 Commencement exercises.