Leaders to Speak at Embry-Riddle Commencement

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Leaders in Aviation, Aerospace, and Business to Speak at Embry-Riddle Commencement

Daytona Beach, Fla., Dec. 7, 2005 -- A total of 295 students at the Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will graduate this month in four separate ceremonies.

At 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, commencement will be held for College of Aviation students in the ICI Center and for College of Business students in the Miller Instructional Center auditorium. At 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, College of Engineering students will attend ceremonies in the ICI Center and College of Arts & Sciences students in the Miller Instructional Center auditorium.

Each college will have its own speaker, with each speaker receiving Embry-Riddle's Distinguished Speaker Award, which recognizes individuals for their professional accomplishments, national or international stature, or exceptional contributions to society.

The speaker for the College of Arts & Sciences is retired Air Force Col. Frederick Gregory, former deputy administrator of NASA. His long career with NASA began in 1978 with his selection as an astronaut. Gregory logged more than 455 hours in space as pilot for Challenger and as spacecraft commander aboard Discovery and Atlantis. In the Air Force, he logged 7,000 hours in over 50 types of aircraft, including 550 combat missions in Vietnam. Gregory has accrued many awards and medals from the Air Force, the Department of Defense, and NASA, and earned the National Society of Black Engineers Distinguished National Scientist Award.

Capt. Dave Bushy, the speaker for the College of Aviation ceremony, is vice president of flight operations with the award-winning low-fare airline JetBlue. He is currently qualified on the Airbus A320. Bushy joined JetBlue in 2004 after a 24-year career with Delta Air Lines, where he started as a Boeing 727 second officer. He held numerous management positions during his tenure at Delta, most recently as the company's senior vice president of flight operations. Bushy is a past president of the Council on Aviation Accreditation and serves on the advisory boards of several major aviation universities, including the Industry Advisory Council of Embry-Riddle's College of Aviation.

The speaker for the College of Business ceremony is Scott Wargo, president of Hampson Aerospace Inc. The company, a spinoff of Hampson Industries, has the exclusive contract to build the tail section for the Eclipse 500 very light jet, a contract valued at $500 million over its lifetime. Wargo is an Embry-Riddle alumnus who holds a bachelor degree in Professional Aeronautics and an Executive MBA with distinction. He has served as a member of the Industry Advisory Board for Embry-Riddle's College of Business since 2002 and is on the Dean's Advisory Committee.

Dr. Woodrow Whitlow Jr., director of NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center, is the speaker for the College of Engineering. He has worked for NASA since 1979. Previous to his current position, Whitlow was the deputy director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center. He has received numerous awards, including U.S. Black Engineer of the Year in Government (1989), NASA Exceptional Service Honor Medal (1992), and the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive (2003). The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics named him an association fellow in 1993.

Embry-Riddle, 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. Embry-Riddle educates more than 30,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Extended Campus at more than 130 teaching centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and through distance learning.