Purdue University Calumet Chancellor Howard Cohen told some 450 graduates at Purdue University Calumet Fall Commencement Exercises Tuesday evening (12/18) that their Purdue education has prepared them “to take a step above a transactional life toward living a life of direction.”

Continuing during Purdue Calumet’s 14th December graduation, Cohen said, “It is your college education that has provided you with the knowledge and tools to guide, shape and direct the transactions in ways that give direction to your life.”

The December graduating class is comprised of 720 individuals—165 summer graduates and 555 candidates completing course work this fall. The summer graduates earned 18 associate degrees, 71 baccalaureate degrees and 76 master’s degrees. The fall class consists of 105 associate degree, 368 baccalaureate degree and 82 master’s degree honorees.

Present to confer their degrees were Purdue University Trustees Susan Butler, William Osterle and Mamon Powers.

Purdue Calumet Professor of Philosophy John Rowan, the university’s 2004 Outstanding Teaching Award recipient, also addressed the graduates, telling them, success “is not a one-and-done proposition. Success is a lifetime commitment.”

“As graduates of Purdue University Calumet, you will be viewed by others as exemplars of excellence, as models of success, and it will therefore be incumbent upon you to live your lives accordingly. At times it will not be easy. Maintaining success requires fulfilling your responsibilities to others.”

Offering the traditional “response” on behalf of the December Class of 2007 was Highland resident and Chicago native Otis Brewer III. The 29-year-old human resource management major is a McNair Achievement Scholar, has been active in campus activities, has been selected for inclusion into “Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities” and is the first African-American male student to qualify for acceptance into Purdue Calumet’s new Honors Program.

This December class increases the number of degrees granted at Purdue Calumet to more than 39,500.