Doctor of Medicine commencement ceremony is May 11 Fifty-nine senior medical students will receive the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree during the Sunday, May 11, commencement ceremony for the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Open to the public, the event is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Chester Fritz Auditorium. The ceremony will be officiated by President Charles Kupchella, and Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean H. David Wilson. State Board of Higher Education member Grant Shaft of Grand Forks will deliver greetings from the board. The keynote address, titled “Being The Best You Can Be,” will be delivered by Rod J. Rohrich, M.D., one of the foremost plastic surgeons in the nation and a UND graduate. Dr. Rohrich is a professor and chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, and heads the largest training program in the country. Eleven physician-faculty members have been invited to participate in the ceremony and accept the Dean’s Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Volunteer Faculty. They are (by alphabetic order): * Arvind K. Bansal, M.D., clinical assistant professor of internal medicine, Grand Forks * Bernie J. Dallum, M.D., clinical assistant professor of radiology, Grand Forks * Stanley T. Diede, M.D., clinical associate professor of internal medicine, Bismarck * Anthony T. Johnson, M.D., clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine and alumnus (M.D. Class of ’94), Bismarck * Mark S. Kristy, M.D., clinical assistant professor of radiology, Hettinger * Myra J. Quanrud, M.D., FAAP., clinical associate professor of pediatrics and alumnus (M.D. Class of ’90), Jamestown * Frank E. Shipley, M.D., FACS., clinical professor of surgery, Minot * Kate P. Stanley, M.D., clinical assistant professor of pediatrics, Fargo * Keith E. Swanson, M.D., clinical assistant professor of internal medicine and alumnus (M.D. Class of ’01), Grand Forks * Rodney A. Swenson, Ph.D., clinical professor of clinical neuroscience, Fargo * John M. Witt, M.D., clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and alumnus (M.D. Class of ’82), Bismarck