Reading , Pa.- Approximately 325 traditional graduates and four master’s degree graduates will receive diplomas at Albright College’s 149th Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18, 2008, at 2:30 p.m. Diplomas will be presented by Albright President Lex O. McMillan III, Ph.D. The ceremony will be held outdoors in the new Gene Shirk Stadium, located on 13 th Street.

Salvatore M. Cutrona Sr., of Mohnton, Pa., will speak to the graduating seniors. Cutrona graduated from Albright in 1973, and is a trustee emeritus and former chair of the Albright Board of Trustees. He also will be presented with an honorary doctoral degree.

The Baccalaureate ceremony, held at 10 a.m. in the stadium will feature The Reverend Robin M. Hynicka, Albright class of 1975 and senior paster of the Arch Street United Methodist Church in Philadelphia. Hynicka will also receive an honorary doctoral degree.

Two additional doctoral degrees will be presented to Frank A. Franco, M.D., retired physician, business owner and trustee emeritus from Wyomissing, Pa.; and Julia Kallipolitou Terzis, M.D., Ph.D., Albright class of 1965, director of the Microsurgical Program at Eastern Virginia Medical School and Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va.

Commencement speaker Salvatore M. Cutrona Sr. retired from Accenture, LTD in 2003 after more than 30 years with the firm. He served as the managing partner of Accenture’s financial services business process outsourcing practice in the North Eastern United States and Canada.

He held several leadership positions within the firm’s U.S. & Canadian Banking and Capital Markets practices. While at Accenture, he was responsible for its commercial bank consulting practice and later the development and operation of its financial services business process management and global technology transformational outsourcing services in the Northeast U.S. and Canada. He now manages real estate, investments and venture capital enterprises.

Cutrona served as an Albright College trustee from 1991 until his retirement from the Board of Trustees in October 2007, as chair from 2001 to 2007, and as trustee emeritus.

He earned a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Albright in 1973, and is a recipient of Albright College’s Jacob Albright Award, the College’s highest honor bestowed on an Albright alumnus.

Albright’s Baccalaureate speaker is The Reverend Robin M. Hynicka , senior pastor at Arch Street United Methodist Church in Center City Philadelphia. On July 1, 2008, he will begin his 30th year in ministry. Hynicka was appointed to serve in three successive, urban ministry settings.

In his current appointment, Hynicka led the Arch Street United Methodist Church in establishing itself as a Reconciling Congregation and in instituting the Grace Café, a peaceful and resourceful safe haven for the congregation’s neighbors who are currently homeless. Buzz Bissinger, in his book A Prayer for the City , vividly describes in the chapter titled “The Last Sermon,” the content and character of Hynicka’s ministry.

Hynicka is a graduate of Albright College and holds a bachelor of arts degree in religion. He also received a master of divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School.

Honorary degree recipient Frank A. Franco, M.D., a retired physician, business owner and trustee emeritus, practiced medicine from 1952 until 1994. In 2003, he was honored by the American Medical Society for a half century in medicine with the 50-Year Award.

In 1961, he founded City Broadcasting Company, Inc., which included stations WRFY-FM and WRAW-AM in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Franco served as an Albright College trustee from 1994 until his retirement from the board in 2005, when he received emeritus status. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University and a medical degree from Hahnemann University. He completed his medical residency at Jefferson Medical College.

Honorary degree recipient Julia Kallipolitou Terzis, M.D., Ph.D. , is director of the Microsurgical Program at Eastern Virginia Medical School and a professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, Terzis was one of the first international students at Albright College, receiving a bachelor of science degree in biology and pre-medicine in 1965. She went on to receive a medical degree from Jefferson Medical College, now Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, and a doctorate in neurophysiology of sensory skin receptors from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

In 1981 she established the Microsurgical Research Center and the International Institute of Reconstructive Microsurgery in Norfolk, Va. She recently received the Clinician of the Year Award from the American Association of Plastic Surgeons for a lifetime of significant achievements in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Terzis is the author of six textbooks and numerous manuscripts and peer reviewed articles in the field of reconstructive microsurgery. She has trained more than 200 young physicians from around the world in the art of reconstructive microsurgery, and has introduced multiple clinical procedures to combat facial paralysis, obstetrical brachial plexus paralysis and post-traumatic brachial plexus paralysis. She has popularized the use of vascularized nerve grafting, free muscle transplantation and aggressive neurotization procedures for functional restoration.

Commencement exercises for Albright’s Accelerated Degree Completion Program will take place on Saturday, June 7 at 2 p.m. in Memorial Chapel.

Founded in 1856, Albright College is a nationally ranked, private college with a rigorous liberal arts curriculum with an interdisciplinary focus. The College’s hallmarks are connecting fields of learning, collaborative teaching and learning, and a flexible curriculum that allows students to create an individualized education. Albright College enrolls more than 1,650 undergraduates in traditional programs, another 500 adult students in accelerated degree programs, and 100 students in the master’s program in education. Albright College is located in Reading, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles west of Philadelphia.