HARDY headlines MTSU graduation Saturday
Middle Tennessee State University graduates embarked upon a new future at the Spring Commencement ceremony at Murphy Center on Saturday.
The university celebrated 2,440-plus members of the first class of 2024 with a trio of commencement ceremonies Friday and Saturday.
Award-winning country singer/songwriter and MTSU 2013 graduate Michael Hardy, known professionally as HARDY, delivered the commencement address.
MTSU President Sidney McPhee also gave remarks and presented graduates with their diplomas.
HARDY soared to new heights in 2023 with the release of critically acclaimed half-country, half-rock sophomore album, “The Mockingbird & the Crow.”
He has written 15 No. 1 singles, including two-time Platinum chart topper “One Beer,” featuring Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson, the platinum Dierks Bentley and Breland collaboration “Beers On Me,” and two-time Platinum duet “Wait in the Truck” featuring Lainey Wilson.
Graduate and undergraduate students in the university’s College of Behavioral and Health Sciences and College of Liberal Arts kicked off the festivities with a 3 p.m. Friday ceremony inside Murphy Center’s Hale/Earle Arena.
Those graduates will heard from Cary E. Holman, MTSU alumnus and director of the Franklin County School District.
Then at 9 a.m. Saturday, students in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences and University College crossed the stage after hearing from alumnus Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Nashville, (District 56), president of real estate company Freeman Webb.
Ceremonies concluded at 2 p.m. Saturday, when Hardy, addressed students in the Jones College of Business, College of Education and College of Media and Entertainment.
The spring 2024 ceremonies will celebrate an estimated 2,441 students set to graduate, according to the MTSU Registrar’s Office. Of those students, 2,037 are undergraduates and 404 are graduate students, including 366 master’s candidates, 21 education-specialist recipients and 17 doctoral candidates.
In addition, 28 graduate students will be receiving graduate certificates.
The spring 2024 graduates will push the number of MTSU degrees presented since 1911 to more than 185,491.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: HARDY headlines MTSU graduation Saturday
