Purdue University Northwest (PNW) will host commencement exercises on Saturday, May 4.

A total of 834 candidates have completed plans of study in PNW’s academic colleges of Business; Engineering and Sciences; Humanities, Education and Social Sciences; Nursing; and Technology. Honors College graduates who have completed enriched multidisciplinary academic opportunities, leadership engagement and community service will also be recognized.

The candidates include 685 earning their baccalaureate degrees and 149 earning their master’s degrees. Candidates for graduation are students who completed plans of study in spring 2024.

PNW’s spring commencement ceremony will take place outdoors on the Hammond Campus in the area south of the Nils K. Nelson Bioscience Innovation Building. The program is scheduled to start at noon CDT. In case of severe weather, the back-up date is Sunday, May 5.

The featured keynote speaker for PNW’s spring commencement is Northwest Indiana native and distinguished PNW alumna Regina Biddings-Muro, vice president for University Advancement at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. Biddings-Muro moved to California in 2018 to lead Cal Lutheran’s efforts to secure philanthropic and community support and serve as CEO of the California Lutheran Education Foundation. Prior to her current role, Biddings-Muro served as vice chancellor of Institutional Advancement and as chief of staff at PNW. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and master’s degree in Communications from Purdue Northwest, and went on to earn her doctoral degree in higher education and organizational change from Benedictine University in Illinois.

Biddings-Muro has a passion for organizations that focus on racial and social justice and the elimination of suffering. In California, she co-founded a professional networking and executive leadership organization, Central Coast Black Leaders Roundtable. She also co-founded a grant-funded university program supported by a grant from the global biotech giant Amgen Foundation – the Community Scholars for Black Lives Fellowship. This four-year-old initiative provides student tuition scholarships and program funding to assist students who aim to do research and increase awareness regarding racial injustice in the Black community. In Northwest Indiana, she was involved with Sojourner Truth House, Edgewater Health and the Urban League of Northwest Indiana, among many other community service commitments.

In-person attendance at spring commencement will be limited to ticketed attendees. The ceremony will be live streamed at pnw.edu/commencement-live.