Bellarmine University held two commencement ceremonies in Freedom Hall this month—one for doctoral and graduate degree recipients on Friday, May 13, and one for undergraduate degree recipients on Saturday, May 14.
The university awarded 889 degrees: 581 undergraduate and 308 graduate or doctoral. Forty military-affiliated students received degrees, the largest number in Bellarmine’s history.
Among Saturday’s graduates were McKenley Butler and Jordan Butler, identical twins and inseparable friends who double-majored in Political Science and Psychology. They will next attend the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville
with hopes of someday opening a joint law practice.
Friday’s ceremony
Bellarmine alumnus and former Trustee Michael Stone was the commencement speaker. Stone, who graduated with a degree in Political Science from Bellarmine in 1970 and who also holds a law degree, is a member of the Board of Directors
for RLI, a specialty property and casualty insurance and surety bond company, and retired president and chief operating officer of RLI and Mt. Hawley Insurance Companies.
In 2014, he was inducted into the Bellarmine University Alumni Association’s Gallery of Distinguished Graduates. That same year, he was instrumental in making Bellarmine’s first-ever “Day of Giving” a major success.
Stone also received an honorary doctoral degree.
Saturday’s ceremony
Undergraduates heard from Russell F. Cox, president and CEO of Norton Healthcare and chair of the Bellarmine Board of Trustees. Cox, who has more than 38 years of executive experience in health care, joined
Norton Healthcare in 2000 and assumed his current position in 2017.
Norton Healthcare, a not-for-profit hospital and healthcare system, is Louisville’s third-largest employer and has partnered with Bellarmine since 2002 to prepare the healthcare leaders that the workforce demands. In 2022, Bellarmine University
and Norton Healthcare announced a five-year, $2.4 million agreement that will expand the pair’s partnerships in sports medicine, campus wellness and nursing.
Cox also received an honorary doctoral degree.