This retired U.S. Navy admiral and Evangel alumnus will speak at graduation May 2
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Admiral Vernon E. Clark, retired chief of naval operations for the U.S. Navy, will be the keynote speaker at the joint graduation this week for Evangel University and its embedded Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.
The 66th annual commencement ceremony for Evangel will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Great Southern Bank Arena. It will double as the 51st ceremony for the seminary. The two schools consolidated in 2013 and have had a joint commencement since 2018.
The event will celebrate 537 graduates including 68 master degrees and 16 doctoral degrees from the seminary. A majority of the 51 associate degrees are from Evangel's James River College campus.
The top five bachelor-level majors from Evangel in 2024 include elementary education, business management, allied health, healthcare and psychology.
The ceremony will be live-streamed at evangel.edu/commencement.
Admiral Clark completed a 37-year Navy career in 2005. His experience started on destroyers and included the early command in a patrol gunboat. It concluded after years in the Pentagon, where he was a member of the Joints Chiefs of Staff.
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He earned an undergraduate degree from Evangel, a master's degree from the University of Arkansas and has since received honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Toledo, Old Dominion University, Northwest University, and Palm Beach Atlantic University.
The Veteran’s Center at Evangel was named in his honor in 2015.
Clark has received numerous military decorations for his service, including four awards of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, three Navy Distinguished Medals, and three awards of the Legion of Merit.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Retired U.S. Navy admiral to speak at Evangel, seminary graduation
