Annual fall convocation speaker announced
August 25, 2016
DEFIANCE, Ohio - On Tuesday, Sept. 13, Defiance College will formally welcome the class of 2020 to campus at the fall convocation ceremony. This year’s theme is "Setting Your Path to Success." Students will be asked to reflect upon three primary questions: 1) Why are you at Defiance College, 2) How do you need to grow, and 3) What differences do you want to make in our world.
After being officially welcomed by President Richanne C. Mankey and Interim Vice-President of Academic Affairs Tim Rickabaugh, students will hear from the keynote speaker, Wes Moore. The keynote speaker is sponsored by the Ralph and Lorna Peters Memorial Endowment as well as the E.S. Dix Lectureship. The community is invited to attend and hear Moore speak. The event will begin at 11 a.m. in the Karl H. Weaner Community Center.
Moore is the author of the students' first year common read "The Other Wes Moore." In his book, Moore compares and contrasts his life experiences with another man (the other Wes Moore) that grew up at the same time, in the same Baltimore environment, but, traveled down a very different path in life.
Born in 1978, Moore and his sisters were raised by their widowed mother. Despite early academic and behavioral struggles, and many opportunities to head down the wrong path, Moore graduated Phi Theta Kappa in 1998 from Valley Forge Military College, and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University in 2001, where he also played football and earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations. He then became a Rhodes Scholar, studying international relations at Oxford University.
Upon completion of his studies, he became a paratrooper and captain in the United States Army, and served a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan with the 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. Moore then served as a White House fellow to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He serves on the boards for the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and Johns Hopkins University, and founded an organization called STAND that works with Baltimore youth involved in the criminal justice system.
Defiance College, chartered in 1850, is an independent, liberal arts institution in Northwest Ohio offering more than 40 undergraduate programs of study as well as graduate programs in education and business. Defiance College has received national recognition for its educational experience of service and engagement. The college website is www.defiance.edu.
