ROTC Ceremony Honors Outstanding Army and Air Force Graduates

The Army and Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps will hold its commissioning ceremony for outstanding graduates at noon, Saturday, June 12, in the Great Hall of Tangeman University Center. The annual ceremony is held for ROTC graduates who meet the high standards to be appointed a second lieutenant – including the requirements of their degree program, officer leadership training, medical qualifications and physical fitness. Seniors to be commissioned must also possess “outstanding moral character,” says U.S. Air Force Major Ken Hamilton, commander of cadets, Air Force ROTC, and UC assistant professor of aerospace studies.

The ceremony keynote speaker is Colonel Michael W. Alexander, commander of the 16th Cavalry Regiment at Ft. Knox, Ky. Alexander was deployed to Iraq in July, 2003 and returned to Kentucky in May to assume command of the 16th Cavalry Regiment.

Among the graduates to be commissioned at the ceremony is Amanda Bishop, a Summa Cum Laude graduate who will be marching in Commencement as marshal for the UC psychology program. Bishop is one of 12 people nationally to be selected to serve as an Air Force Special Agent in the U.S. Office of Special Investigations. The 21-year-old Glendale resident, a graduate of Oak Hills High School, received numerous honors for her academic achievements at UC. Her first assignment will be at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.

Major Ken Hamilton adds that two other UC graduates, Brian Dicks and Chris Mitchell, will be stationed locally at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio while waiting for a pilot training slot at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas. Two other UC Air Force commissionees, James Falls III and Stacey Marzheuser, both of Cincinnati, will report to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for space and missile combat training.

Seven graduates representing ROTC Army and five graduates representing the U.S. Air Force will be commissioned at the ceremony.