MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University awarded 945 students diplomas Saturday during its spring commencements.

During two ceremonies, Northwest conferred 647 undergraduate degrees, 294 graduate degrees and four specialist in education degrees.

The top undergraduate degrees of the spring class were business management, elementary education and psychology. The top graduate degree was applied consumer science.
Northwest graduates included 617 Missouri residents, 90 from Iowa and 75 from Nebraska. Additionally, graduating international students represented 11 different countries, including: Brazil, Canada, Ghana, India, Ireland, Korea, Netherlands, People’s Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Additionally, 54 percent of the graduates were female, and they ranged in age from 20 to 67.

During his remarks, Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski encouraged the graduates to celebrate their pasts but focus on their futures. Invoking Northwest’s tagline, “Bearcats Connect,” Jasinski also encouraged graduates to be active citizens.

“Your role has been to learn, grow, challenge yourself, expand your horizons, ask questions and ask more questions, and be discerning in the way of leading with integrity, treating others with respect, having sound reasoning, and providing facts as you address and solve issues of all types,” Jasinski told the graduates. “I’m confident that each of you have found a variety of meaningful connections in your time at Northwest, and I encourage you to keep connecting.”