SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Four residents of York County received degrees from Western Governors University during the school’s 33rd semi-annual commencement ceremony at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on July 15.

Completing studies at the school were:

• Renee Auger of Kennebunk, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

• Lisa Judd of Kennebunkport, who earned a Bachelor of Arts in Educational Studies.

• Shelby Tarbox of Sanford, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.

• Abigail Brown of Wells, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

At the commencement, the online, nonprofit university recognized 6,348 undergraduates and 4,140 graduates who have completed their degrees in business, information technology, K-12 teacher education, and healthcare, including nursing.

Clayton M. Christensen, the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and Founder of The Christensen Institute, delivered the commencement address, and joined WGU President Scott D. Pulsipher in honoring the more than 1,000 new alumni
participating in the ceremony.

Students who were not able to attend the ceremony in person were able to watch the event via live video stream onWGUs website.

WGU has made convenient and affordable higher education available to busy adults. Demand for its competency-based programs can be seen in the year-over-year growth of WGUs national impact.

Some 40 percent of this years graduates represent the first generation in their family to complete college. The average time to graduation for bachelors degrees was 2 years, 3 months and the average time to graduation for graduate programs was 1 year, 8 months.

Since WGUs founding in 1997, the online, competency-based university has awarded more than 87,000 degrees; 20,000 of them in just the past year.

Designed to meet the needs of working adults, WGUs competency-based learning model makes it possible for students to fit studying into their busy lives. Students complete courses as soon as they demonstrate that they have mastered the subject matter, enabling them to move quickly
through material they already know and spend more time on focusing on what they still need to learn. As a result, many students are able to accelerate their studies, finishing faster and saving money.

Established in 1997 by 19 U.S. governors with a mission to expand access to high-quality, affordable higher education, online, nonprofit WGU now serves 82,000 students and 87,000 graduates in all 50 states. Driving innovation as the nations leading competency-based university, WGU has been recognized by the White House, state leaders, employers, and students as a model that works in postsecondary education. In just 20 years, the university has become a leading force in changing lives of through education.

WGU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, has been featured on NPR, NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in The New York Times.

Learn more at www.wgu.edu.