Commencement planned for May 4

Seventy-two graduate students from nine states and three foreign countries will be graduating and 253 students from 15 states and Canada will be recognized during the undergraduate service.

This year, due to the Armstrong renovation project, a drop-off point will be set up near the handicapped ramp northeast of Armstrong. Motorists are encouraged to drop off guests who will not be able to walk from parking lots to the ceremony.

College Relations will be providing live streaming of both commencement ceremonies. Those unable to attend in person may access the video by going to www.csc.edu/live

Commencement speakers will be CSC professor and Applied Science chair Dr. Chuck Butterfield for the graduate ceremony and health care professional and distinguished CSC alumna Susan Woeppel Salka for the undergraduate ceremony.

Butterfield has led the CSC side of collaboration with the Nebraska Game and Parks commission through which CSC students and faculty assisted the state agency with hands-on studies of Bighorn sheep.

He has received a number of honors for achievements in education: the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award from the Range Science Education Council in 2010, the CSC Teaching Excellence award in 2008 in recognition of exemplary and dedicated undergraduate teaching, the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Society for Range Management and the Nebraska Chapter of the Wildlife Society Career Service Award in 2006 for leadership in establishing the wildlife curriculum at CSC.

He also served as president of the Nebraska Section of the Society for Range Management in 2005-06.

Collaborations he initiated while at CSC are many and varied. He has been a key player in establishing a number of transfer agreements with regional institutions enabling their graduates to transfer to CSC and complete a bachelor’s degree.

Salka, who graduated from Wheeler County High School in Bartlett, Neb., majored in business administration with emphasis in accounting and economics at Chadron State. She was a member of two CSC teams that won the top honors at the International Collegiate Business Policy Games.

At least 20 colleges and universities, most of them with much larger enrollments than CSC, entered the games, which featured simulated business decision-making by business majors. It was a proud time when the Chadron State teams brought home the first-place honors.

Salka was among those responsible for CSC’s business games’ success and in “real life” has helped make the company she heads a remarkable success. In 1985, she graduated with honors from CSC and was recognized as the outstanding senior majoring in business administration at Ivy Day that year.

AMN Healthcare was founded as a regional travel nurse staffing company in 1985. Salka joined the fledgling company in 1990 as its first chief financial officer. In the next few years she was promoted to chief operating officer and senior vice president of business development. In 2003, she was named the firm’s president. Two years later, chief executive officer was added to her title.