Veteran Astronaut William F. Readdy to Speak at Embry-Riddle Worldwide Commencement

Daytona Beach, Fla., April 23, 2007 – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide Campus will hold commencement ceremonies for 372 students on Saturday, May 5, 2007, at 10 a.m. in the Vince Carter Gym at Mainland High School, Daytona Beach. A reception will follow the ceremony at the Student Center of the Embry-Riddle Daytona Beach Campus.

The commencement speaker will be William F. Readdy, former astronaut and NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight/Operations and founding partner of Discovery Partners International. He will receive the Embry-Riddle Distinguished Speaker Award in recognition of his professional accomplishments and international stature in aviation and aerospace.

A Naval Academy graduate, decorated naval aviator, and veteran of three space shuttle missions, Readdy orchestrated the successful effort to return the space shuttle to flight after the Columbia accident as the Associate Administrator for Space Flight/Operations at NASA. Prior to his selection for the astronaut corps in 1987, he served as a naval test pilot and instructor for carrier-based operations in the North Atlantic, Caribbean, and Mediterranean. Readdy joined NASA in 1986, while continuing in the Naval Reserve where he retired as a Captain in 2000.

One of Readdy’s most significant contributions to the advancement of aerospace exploration was his five-month tour as director of NASA operations in Star City, Russia, where he was instrumental in launching the first critical phase of the international space station partnership.

Readdy is the recipient of numerous national and international aviation and space awards, including being honored by President Bush in 2003 as a Meritorious Rank Executive and by NASA twice with its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal.

Embry-Riddle Worldwide began in 1970 as a branch of the Daytona Beach Campus at Ft. Rucker, Ala., with 20 students, primarily military working adults. Since then, the program has become one of the largest off-campus, regionally accredited colleges in the United States, with over 45,000 alumni. The Worldwide organization educates more than 27,000 students through classroom, online, or hybrid undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., Daytona Beach, Fla., and Worldwide at more than 130 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and through online learning.

###

©Copyright 2008 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. All rights reserved.

Embry-Riddle Worldwide

600 S. Clyde Morris Boulevard, Daytona Beach, FL 32114-3900