Educator Deborah Phelps to Deliver Keynote Address at Stevenson University’s 64th Commencement Ceremonies, May 18
Stevenson University has announced that educator and mother of Michael Phelps, Baltimore Olympics swim champion, Deborah Phelps will be the keynote speaker at the University’s 64th Commencement Ceremonies, Thursday, May 18. The University will award diplomas to 530 students.
Phelps is widely recognized as an innovative, energetic, and talented leader and is a master teacher with more than three decades of experience in teaching and education administration.
A proud mother of three children and grandmother of three, Phelps is the Executive Director of the Education Foundation of the Baltimore County Public Schools. Her dedication and commitment to excellence in the field of education have earned Phelps many honors including Baltimore County Public School’s Teacher of the Year Finalist, two-time Maryland Family and Consumer Science Teacher of the Year, and Baltimore County’s “Baby Boomer of the Year.”
Phelps first spoke at Stevenson in August of 2013 when she addressed incoming freshmen and their families at the University’s Convocation.
Stevenson will also recognize Kathleen G. Thorp, a Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserves serving as a senior nurse at the Naval Operational Center, with the University’s 7th Annual Social Entrepreneurship Award.
Thorp is also the founder of Operation Welcome Home Maryland, an organization that gives U.S. service members a hero’s welcome home as they arrive at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport on their way back from oversea operations. Since 2007, thousands of Operation Welcome Home patriotic volunteers have greeted more than 600,000 service men and women that do not have family members waiting to welcome them. The organization has received numerous awards including the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, a Maryland Governor’s Citation, and military unit recognitions.
Stevenson will hold two commencement ceremonies May 18 at its Greenspring Campus, 1525 Greenspring Valley Road, Stevenson, MD 21153. Graduates from the Brown School of Business and Leadership, School of Nursing and Health Professions, and School of the Sciences receive their diplomas at 10 a.m., and graduates from the School of Design, the School of Education, and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences receive their diplomas at the 3 p.m. ceremony. For more information, visit stevenson.edu/commencement. The commencement can be viewed at stevenson.edu.
Stevenson University, known for its distinctive career focus, is the third-largest independent university in Maryland with more than 4,100 students pursuing bachelor’s, master’s, and adult bachelor’s programs at locations in Stevenson and Owings Mills.