Dec 3, 2013 2 min read

Interim President Geraldine M. Jones will confer degrees at two ceremonies when California University of Pennsylvania celebrates its winter commencement.

Master’s degrees will be awarded at 7 p.m. Dec. 13 in the Convocation Center. Undergraduates in the College of Education and Human Services, the College of Liberal Arts and the Eberly College of Science and Technology will receive their diplomas at 10 a.m. Dec. 14, also in the Convocation Center.

Dante E. Morelli, class of 2002, of Murrysville, will address graduates at both ceremonies.

About 620 undergraduates and 773 graduate students will receive their degrees, although not all will attend the ceremonies.

Morelli earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies in 2002.

Morelli went on to earn a master’s degree in corporate and professional communication at Radford University in Virginia.

He accepted a teaching position at Suffolk County Community College in New York, where he was an assistant professor of communication studies.

After four years of teaching, Morelli took two years of leave from his position to pursue a doctorate in communication at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

He returned to Suffolk, where he remains active in his teaching, department and the college community, while nearing the completion of his dissertation for his Ph.D.

Morelli also is an active member of the California University Alumni Association and is serving his third term on the board of directors.