James Stofan, Class of 1971, will address graduates when California University of Pennsylvania marks its 183rd Commencement.
Stofan, an expert in university alumni relations, will speak at two graduation ceremonies.
- Graduate students: Commencement begins at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, in the Cal U Convocation Center. Master’s degree candidates will be vested in their academic hoods during the ceremony.
- Undergraduates: Commencement is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, also in the Convocation Center.
University President Geraldine M. Jones will confer the degrees and personally greet each graduate who walks across the stage.
Graduates’ family members and friends are welcome to attend.
Information for graduating students
About the speaker
Commencement speaker James Stofan ’71 is vice president for alumni relations at Tulane University in New Orleans. At Tulane he oversees strategic engagement initiatives for the university’s 140,000 alumni worldwide.
Before joining Tulane, Stofan was the associate vice chancellor of alumni relations for Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
Prior to that, Stofan worked in alumni relations at the University of California for more than 25 years. His tenure at UC included:
- Serving as assistant vice president for alumni relations and protocol for the UC System.
- Advising the 10 UC campus alumni associations, which represent more than 1.4 million alumni.;
- Overseeing protocol for the UC Office of the President.
- Creating UC alumni chapters in London, Paris, Mexico City, New Delhi and Shanghai, and hosted alumni events in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Stofan received his Bachelor of Science in Education from Cal U in 1971. Upon graduation, he received Cal U Student Government’s Distinguished Service Award for his volunteer work with various student activities.
Stofan also holds a master’s degree in College Student Personnel from Central Connecticut State University and attended the Protocol School of Washington.
He sits on the board of directors for the Donald A. Strauss Public Service Scholarship Foundation, which encourages young leaders from 15 pre-selected California colleges and universities to undertake a high-impact project in public service or social change before graduation.