NWC to award 268 diplomas

Northwestern College will award 268 diplomas during commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 8. Thirteen students will receive Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees, while the rest of the graduating seniors will be granted Bachelor of Arts degrees.

Ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. in the DeWitt Physical Fitness Center of the Rowenhorst Student Center. John Vonder Bruegge, instructor in religion at Northwestern, will address the graduates. The college’s baccalaureate service is scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday, May 7, in Christ Chapel.

Vonder Bruegge was the 2009 recipient of Northwestern’s annual Teaching Excellence Award. He was nominated for the honor by students, who described him as one of the Northwestern’s most respected professors. Letters to the selection committee cited his love for both students and Scripture, his ability to make any subject matter fascinating, and his high expectations for students—coupled with the encouragement they need to meet those expectations.

A Ph.D. candidate in religious studies at Yale University, Vonder Bruegge earned a Master of Theology degree from Harvard University and a Master of Divinity degree from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Missouri.

Prior to joining Northwestern’s faculty in 2004, Vonder Bruegge served as a research assistant at Harvard and Yale and as a teaching fellow and lecturer at Yale Divinity School. He also participated in an archaeological excavation in Turkey and studied archaeology in Israel and Greece.