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Embry-Riddle Confers Degrees at McConnell Center

McConnell AFB, Kan., June 26, 2006 -- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Extended Campus facility in Wichita, Kan., conducted commencement exercises June 24 at the Derby High School auditorium. The first female air traffic controller in the United States, Mary Van Scyoc, was the featured speaker.

Van Scyoc soloed off Wichita Airport, which is now McConnell Air Force Base, in 1938. By 1945, she held commercial, instrument, and instructor pilot ratings. Van Scyoc entered the profession of air traffic control in 1942, working in several towers and centers. She became a flight instructor after she left air traffic control. She has been active in the Kansas Aviation Museum since it opened.

This year’s ceremony included eight graduate degrees and 17 undergraduate degrees. The graduate degrees were in aeronautical science and the undergraduate degrees were in professional aeronautics. The graduating class is composed of both military and civilians. Conferring degrees on behalf of the university and the Embry-Riddle Board of Trustees was Center Faculty Chair Dr. Jennifer Pollan.

Embry-Riddle’s McConnell Center offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in aeronautical science and professional aeronautics, and certificates in aviation maintenance technology Part 65 for the Airframe and Powerplant license. The McConnell Center accepts nonmilitary students, and financial aid is available.

For more information, contact Terri Laurhammer at the McConnell Center at (316) 687-3006 or mcconnell.center@erau.edu.

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 32,000 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 worldwide through distance learning.