Western Carolina University will honor its fall graduating class, and recognize a group of graduates who received their degrees after this year’s summer school sessions, as the university holds fall commencement at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18.

The ceremony at the Ramsey Regional Activity Center is open to everyone and no tickets are required for admission. WCU Chancellor John W. Bardo will preside over commencement and deliver the charge to the fall semester degree candidates and summer graduates.

WCU’s fall class includes about 690 students who are currently completing academic requirements to receive their degrees. Graduates who completed degree requirements during summer school and who already have been conferred degrees also are eligible to participate in the ceremony.

Commencement activities will include the awarding of a posthumous honorary doctor of arts degree to Josefina Maria Niggli, a writer and teacher who led the development of WCU’s theater arts program and inspired legions of students during her two decades of teaching at the university. WCU’s Office of Undergraduate Studies coordinated a campuswide celebration of Niggli’s life during the 2009-10 academic year to mark the 100th anniversary of her birth.

WCU senior Lucas Owen Ladnier, a Hickory native and member of the Honors College, will deliver the primary commencement address.

The commencement audience should enter the Ramsey Center through one of four upper concourse doors. Those with physical disabilities should use the northeastern upper entrance, adjacent to the stands of E.J. Whitmire Stadium.

For more information about commencement, contact the WCU Registrar’s Office at 828.227.7216 or e-mail registrarsoffice@wcu.edu.