Spring Commencement Set for May 10

About 430 students will participate in Spring Commencement for Fairmont State University, including Pierpont Community & Technical College. The ceremony begins at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 10, at the Feaster Center. A reception in the Falcon Center will immediately follow the ceremony.

Gary A. LeDonne, CPA, an alumnus of Fairmont State College and member of the Presidents' Leadership Council, will be the speaker. Whitney A. Richardson, a graduate of Fairmont Senior High School, will be the student speaker representing the graduating class. Also during the ceremony, Datha A. Smith will be presented posthumously with the honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters.

"We were saddened to hear of Mrs. Smith's recent death. We were looking forward to presenting the degree to her in person," said Dan Bradley, FSU President. "We are glad members of Mrs. Smith's family will be able to attend to accept it on her behalf. The Smith family has been tremendously supportive of higher education in North Central West Virginia."

Gary A. LeDonne grew up in Fairmont. He graduated from Fairmont State College in 1984 with an accounting major and banking minor. LeDonne served as a graduate teaching assistant while completing the Master of Professional Accountancy program at West Virginia University. Following graduate school, he joined the Pittsburgh office of Ernst & Whinney in 1985. He was admitted into the partnership in 1997. He transferred to Ernst & Young's New York office in 1998 after two years in the firm's Columbus, Ohio, office. During his career, LeDonne has served clients in many industries, with particular focus in the financial services industry. Currently, he serves as Ernst & Young's National Director of State and Local Tax Services. In his role, he is responsible for over 600 E&Y tax professionals in offices across North and South America. As a senior partner, he is involved in all aspects of the firm's tax practice, including strategy, operations, client relations and quality. LeDonne is a frequent lecturer on tax matters, including recent tax conferences sponsored by the Council on State Taxation and The Tax Executives Institute. He and his wife Renee reside in Wilton, Conn., and have two children, Garrett and Haley.

A native West Virginian, Datha A. Smith spent most of her life in Marion County. She passed away on April 21. She and her husband Gene Smith had a successful family business and raised their family, while also being active in their church and community. The Smiths established the Datha and Gene Smith Endowed Scholarship at the Fairmont State Foundation, Inc., for Marion County students who wish to attend Fairmont State. While living in Fairmont, Datha Smith was an active member of First United Methodist Church (now known as Faith United Methodist Church) and participant of the West Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Smith has supported other charitable causes in West Virginia and Florida. In 2004, both Smith and the Datha Gene Foundation were honored as recipients of the Fairmont State SOARing Award for their generous support of student scholarships and advocacy of Fairmont State. Smith was the mother of three and the grandmother of eight, many of whom have attended Fairmont State.

Whitney A. Richardson graduated from Fairmont Senior High School in 2004. She is graduating from FSU with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration focused in Marketing. She plans to get a job in advertising and marketing and would like to attend graduate school at West Virginia University. She has been involved in Student Government for the past four years serving as faculty senator, House of Representatives member, director of public relations and secretary. She has also held positions in Delta Zeta Sorority over the past four years. She has attended several leadership conferences and has been very involved in the Fairmont community. She has walked in the MS Walk for the past four years and has been involved with Delta Zeta's Turtle Trot, which supports the needs of the hearing impaired. She has collected food for local food pantries, participated in clothing drives for HOPE, Inc., has taken Easter baskets to the WVU Children's Hospital and also to the children at HOPE, Inc.

Handicapped parking will be available on May 10, and parking attendants from the Department of Public Safety will be on hand to direct traffic. The Feaster Center parking lot located directly across Squibb Wilson Boulevard from the Duvall-Rosier Field parking lot will be used for handicapped parking. This lot allows guests to enter the Feaster Center directly onto the arena floor. Seating will be available on the bottom rows of the arena for those with special needs. For more information, call the Office of Disability Services at (304) 367-4686 or the Department of Public Safety at (304) 367-4157.