While there may be excitement outside Saturday afternoon when Slippery Rock University takes the field for its Division II semifinal football game, a different kind of excitement will take place Saturday inside Morrow Field House as hundreds of graduates receive their diplomas.

More than 525 Slippery Rock University students are eligible to participate in the university's winter commencement ceremony. SRU will award 426 undergraduate degrees, 100 master's degrees and three doctoral degrees.

The ceremony starts at 11 a.m., and tickets are required for admission with doors opening at 9:30 a.m.

Larry McCarthy, assistant professor of accounting and assistant to the dean of the College of Business, will serve as university grand marshal for the ceremony. William Sigmund, professor of biology, will act as the faculty marshal.

Student marshals will include: Madison Dudek, representing the College of Business; Christopher Anastas, representing the College of Education; Angela Vickers, representing the College of Health, Engineering and Science; Brock Ruth, representing the College of Liberal Arts; Joseph Ollio, representing Graduate Studies; and Jessica Lefler, will serve as the flag bearer.

SRU President William Behre will open the ceremony; and Jeff Smith, chairman of the SRU council of trustees, will bring greetings from the council.

The commencement address will be delivered by Cynthia Shapira, chairwoman of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education.

Shapira is president of the David S. and Karen A. Shapira Foundation, and leads the foundation's philanthropic initiatives. Among her credits, she was appointed by former Gov. Tom Corbett to the Pennsylvania Commission on Women, and served on Gov. Tom Wolf's advisory board on Education and Workforce Development. In 2017, she was honored as a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania.

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Wellesley College and a master of public administration degree from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

Overflow seating for those who do not have tickets for the field house is available at the Alumni House and the Advanced Technology and Science Hall Auditorium. The ceremony will be live streamed via the Internet at www.sru.edu.

Additional information, including guest instructions, special needs seating, transportation, parking and lodging is available at http://www.sru.edu/events/commencement or by phoning 724-738-2849.

Robb W. King is the associate executive director for communication and public affairs at Slippery Rock University.