Retired Boeing Vice President R. Gale Schluter to Speak at Embry-Riddle Worlwide Commencement

Daytona Beach, Fla., April 21, 2008 – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide Campus will hold commencement ceremonies for 345 students on Saturday, May 3, 2008, at 10 a.m. in the ICI Center at the Daytona Beach Campus. A reception will follow the ceremony in an area on the north side of the ICI Center.

The commencement speaker will be R. Gale Schluter, retired vice president and general manager of Expendable Launch Systems for the Boeing Company based in Huntington Beach, Calif. He served 40 years in the aerospace industry and 35 years with Boeing/McDonnell Douglas. During the ceremony, he will receive the Embry-Riddle Distinguished Speaker Award in recognition of his professional accomplishments and international stature in aviation and aerospace. Schluter received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Oregon State University in 1962 and resides in Huntington Beach, Calif., with his wife, Jean.

Schluter was responsible for all of Boeing’s launch vehicle programs, including Delta II, Delta III, the U.S. Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, Delta IV, Inertial Upper Stage, Advanced Systems, and the Boeing segment of Sea Launch. As general manager of the Huntington Beach facility he managed approximately 10,000 people (5,000 professional engineers), $1.5B in annual sales, a 225-acre facility, four remote manufacturing and assembly locations, and had responsibility for approximately $550M of annual indirect budget. Prior to the merger with Boeing, Schluter served as vice president-general manager of Space & Defense Systems within McDonnell Douglas, and was an officer of the corporation.

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 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.

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