More than 3,700 Texas Tech students, including 269 undergraduates from the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, received diplomas at the university's spring commencement ceremonies on Friday and Saturday (May 18) at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock.

During the event outstanding students carried banners representing their respective colleges. Kaylynn Kiker, an animal science major from Allison, represented CASNR. Administrators selected the banner bearers based on all-around achievement.

Separately, Texas Tech officials recognized CASNR's highest-ranking spring graduates. They include:

• Kathrine Adams, an animal science from Hedley, Texas
• Emma Brocato, an agricultural communications from Austin, Texas
• Hope Brookshire, an agricultural communications from Midland, Texas
• Lucchese Cogdell, an agricultural communications from Silverton, Texas
• Kerry Gonyeau, an animal science from Winnsboro, Texas
• Baylie Halbakken, a conservation law enforcement from Levelland, Texas
• Kaylynn Kiker, an animal science from Allison, Texas
• Benjamin Mills, an animal science from Shallowater, Texas
• Taylor Moose, a natural resources management from Cypress, Texas
• Avery Smith, a natural resources management from Austin, Texas
• Courtney Stephens, an agricultural communications from Fort Davis, Texas
• Marah Walls, a plant and soil science from Ingram, Texas

Graduation undergraduate recipients from individual departments and majors included:

• Agribusiness, 7
• Agricultural & Applied Economics, 40
• Agricultural Communications, 34
• Animal Science, 82
• Conservation Law Enforcement, 5
• Food Science, 5
• Interdisciplinary Agriculture, 27
• Landscape Architecture, 15
• Natural Resources Management, 37
• Plant and Soil Science, 17

Barry Lopez, an acclaimed author and essayist, served as the speaker for the CASNR's spring commencement ceremonies. A National Book Award winner for his 1986 nonfiction work "Arctic Dreams," Lopez is an essayist, author and short-story writer. He also has received the John Burroughs and Christopher medals and has been a finalist for the National Book Award for his work "Of Wolves and Men."

In his nonfiction, Lopez writes about the relationship between the physical landscape and human culture, and his fiction covers issues of intimacy, ethics and identity. He is a visiting distinguished scholar at Texas Tech, who has received the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts. Lopez helped found the James E. Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community and the Natural World at Texas Tech. The university also acquired Lopez's manuscripts, notebooks, field journals, professional correspondence and other archival materials.

CONTACT: William Brown, Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or william.f.brown@ttu.edu

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