Commencement Speaker
Brandon Busteed
Executive Director of Gallup Education Brandon Busteed will deliver the commencement address at Augustana College's 155th Commencement Convocation on Sunday, May 24 at 3 p.m. in the iWireless Center, 1201 River Drive, Moline, Ill. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.
Busteed's work involves integrating Gallup's research and science on selection, strengths, engagement and wellbeing to improve student success, teacher effectiveness and educational outcomes. His mission is to create a national movement to measure the educational outcomes that matter most, connect education to jobs and job creation, and promote a paradigm shift from knowledge mastery to emotional engagement in education.
Busteed is a trustee emeritus of Duke University, where he completed his bachelor's degree in public policy, and has served on the Board of Visitors of the Sanford School of Public Policy. He is a member of Young Presidents' Organization and serves on the National Board of Directors for Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity.
Kathryn Lohre
He also is founder and former CEO of Outside The Classroom, a company that pioneered adaptive online education in alcohol abuse prevention. Busteed is a nationally known speaker and author on education policy and public health, and has written frequently for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Trusteeship Magazine, The Huffington Post and other publications.
Kathryn Lohre, assistant to the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and executive for ecumenical and inter-religious relations for the ELCA, will deliver the Baccalaureate sermon at 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 24 in Centennial Hall (3703 7th Ave., Rock Island).
Augustana is one of 26 colleges related to the ELCA. Lohre was appointed to her current role within the ELCA in March of 2014, where she previously served as director of ecumenical and inter-religious relations. She recently served as president of the National Council of Churches, and was the first Lutheran and youngest female to hold the office.