FLORENCE – The University of North Alabama fall commencement ceremonies will take place over two days in December.
The ceremony for the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions and the College of
Education and Human Sciences will be Friday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. in Flowers Hall. Carol Behel, Alabama’s Teacher of the Year and a 1990 UNA graduate, will be the featured commencement speaker.
On Saturday, Dec. 14, at 10 a.m. and again at 2 p.m., in Flowers Hall, the ceremony will take place for the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business. Dr. Deborah E. Barnhart, the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center will be the featured commencement speaker.
Ana Carolina Behel
Behel has 25 years of experience in education. A first-generation college graduate, she has degrees from the University of North Alabama and is pursuing her Doctor of Education degree from the University of Alabama. For the last eight years, she has been working with children and families of various language and cultural backgrounds at Weeden Elementary School in Florence. As the state’s Teacher of the Year, she will travel to different schools in Alabama to share her teaching philosophies. She is also a contender for the National Teacher of the Year; Behel will travel to Washington, D.C. in January to participate in that event.
Dr. Deborah E. Barnhart
Dr. Barnhart has served in her role at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center since December of 2010. The Center is the official Visitor Center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and is home to U.S. Space Camp, U.S. Space Academy, Aviation Challenge, and Robotics Camp. The Center is also Alabama’s leading tourist attraction. Dr. Barnhart’s career spans four decades of service in commercial industry, government, aerospace and defense. A retired Navy Captain (0-6), she was one of the first 10 women assigned to duty aboard ships and commanded five units in her 26 year career. She was vice president of three Dow 30 aerospace and defense companies, serving in manufacturing, business development, program and research management, and congressional lobbying for Honeywell International, McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing), and United Technologies Aerospace.
Media Release/Michelle Eubanks
Interim Associate Director, Communications and Marketing
University Communications and Marketing
UNA
