NEWS EVENT

Museum of Aviation, Century of Flight Hangar at Warner Robins, GA, Hosts Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Commencement Ceremony

Warner Robins, GA, November 8, 2008 – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide Campus locations at Robins Air Force Base, Atlanta, and Columbus, GA, will conduct a commencement ceremony in the Museum of Aviation, Century of Flight Hangar at Warner Robins, GA, at noon, Saturday, November 8, 2008. A reception in the hangar will follow..

At the ceremony, 58 students will receive undergraduate degrees in professional aeronautics and technical management and graduate degrees in aeronautical science, management, and technical management. The graduates are civilian and military personnel from the three campus locations. The degrees will be conferred by Ms. Rachel M. Vigness, associate dean of the eastern region of the university’s Worldwide Campus.

The commencement address will be delivered by Colonel Warren D. Berry. Colonel Berry is the commander, 78th Air Base Wing, and installation commander, Robins Air Force Base, GA. As the commander of Georgia's largest industrial complex, he trains, deploys and redeploys over 6,500 Airmen in support of Air Expeditionary Force and combatant commander requirements. In addition, he provides facilities and equipment support for the base's 30 hosted units, including a major command headquarters, an air control wing, and a combat communications group on an 8,722-acre installation. He commands 3,000 people assigned to four groups, an operations support squadron, finance squadron, and wing staff agencies. He is directly responsible for all logistics, medical, civil engineer, security and mission support and manages facilities and equipment valued at $3.5 billion with an operating budget of $257 million. He is also responsible for the morale and welfare of 28,000 officers, Airmen, civilians and family members.

Colonel Berry earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Notre Dame and was commissioned a second lieutenant through AFROTC as a distinguished graduate. He entered active duty in January 1988 as an acquisition officer at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, before cross-training into aircraft maintenance in 1992. He has served as an executive officer to the Electronic Combat and Reconnaissance SPO director, a Squadron Officer School operations officer, and an Air Staff programmer for over $21 billion in logistics assets and programs. Colonel Berry has commanded a mission support group and two maintenance squadrons. He is a graduate of both Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College in-resident programs at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.

To learn more about the commencement ceremony, contact Phillip B. Russell at (478) 926-1727 or phillip.russell@erau.edu

The Worldwide Campus began in 1970 as a branch of Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach campus at Ft. Rucker, AL, with 20 students, primarily military working adults. Since then, the program has become one of the nation’s largest off-campus, regionally accredited colleges, with over 45,000 alumni. It educates more than 27,000 students through classroom, online, or hybrid undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs. Individuals interested in applying to local center programs can contact the Embry-Riddle Worldwide Campus at www.embryriddle.edu or call toll-free (866) 478-4870.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 32,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, AZ, Daytona Beach, FL, and Worldwide at more than 130 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.