Ivy Tech Community College Evansville Recently Graduated
Nearly 1,250 Students
Evansville, IN – The Ivy Tech Community College commencement recently conferred degrees and credentials on approximately 1,250 students.
Guest speakers for the 2023 Commencement include State Representative District 75 Cindy Ledbetter and Outstanding Elementary Education graduating student Ty Bernhardt.
Ledbetter, a psychiatric nurse in Evansville and Indiana State Representative, is a 1999 Ivy Tech graduate who earned a nursing degree and has since also earned a B.S. in Nursing and an M.S. in Nursing from the University of Southern Indiana. She also earned a post-Master certificate in psychiatric and mental health nursing and a doctorate in nursing this year from USI.
Ty Bernhardt is a 2013 graduate of F.J. Reitz High School. Bernhardt will graduate with an Associate of Science degree and a technical certificate in elementary education. He currently is serving as a substitute teacher, in addition to finishing his degree. He plans to transfer to the University of Evansville as a junior to earn his bachelor’s degree in elementary education. He is a member of the Aspiring Educators Club at Ivy Tech.
Honored during the event will be:
- 2014 Ivy Tech graduate Gelina Mascoe, was recognized as the 2023 Distinguished Alumna. Mascoe, who was born in La Gonave, Haiti, founded Lumiere D’education Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free education to 170 children in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Closer to home, she is the founder of the recently opened the Haitian Center of Evansville, connecting local Haitian immigrants to the support they need to achieve independence, increase overall well-being and enhance future community impact.
- Lu Porter received the Benefactor of the Year award. She has served Ivy Tech as a Foundation Board member for more than 27 years, connecting donors and students into the Ivy Tech family. Porter serves the community in many ways including her time on 25 local and state boards over the last several decades to support community needs and assist non-profits in their fundraising efforts. She retired from the Evansville African American Museum after seven years in 2017 and previously worked in community outreach for Integra Bank for 18 years.
Students graduating earned a total of 1,776 associate and associate of applied science degrees, certificates, and technical certificates. Of those graduating, approximately half are graduating with honors, and 149 will graduate summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA.
This year marks the first graduating class of the Garatoni School of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, with 18 students earning their technical certificate in entrepreneurship. Ivy Tech also has nearly 200 high school students who are earning a college degree or credential even before they graduate with their high school diploma, through dual credit and dual enrollment classes they have taken with the college; and through the many Early College High Schools in Vanderburgh, Perry, and Spencer counties that Ivy Tech sponsors. There are also 283 students who have earned their Indiana College Core Technical Certificate, allowing them to transfer their credits to any college in Indiana and start as a sophomore.
Ivy Tech continues to serve the workforce in a wide variety of ways, including through the Achieve Your Degree Program, through which 67 graduates are earning their degrees this year, as well as 213 apprentices in the trades in the region who earned their credentials and associate degrees.
Ivy Tech Evansville offers more than 50 programs of study that may be completed in two years or less.
