COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech University celebrated more than 1,000 graduates today at its fall commencement ceremonies, held at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the university’s Hooper Eblen Center.
The fall 2024 graduating class encompassed students from 74 counties throughout Tennessee, 21 states and 15 other countries – all with birth years ranging from 1951 to 2004. Undergraduate degrees were awarded to students across 46 fields of study, while graduate degrees were awarded to students representing 31 fields of study.
“This will always be your home,” said Tech President Phil Oldham in remarks to graduates. “You belong to this community and campus. Through your dedication and service, you have significantly contributed to its strength and spirit.”
During both the morning and afternoon ceremonies, Tech graduates heard video remarks from Kelsey Hewitt, a Tech senior and current Student Government Association (SGA) president; Tyler and Anna Dunn, Tech alumni and owners of “Soul Craft Coffee” in Cookeville; and Ashraf Islam, the 2024 recipient of Tech’s Distinguished Alumnus Award and namesake for the university’s new Ashraf Islam Engineering Building.
“The best gift that Tennessee Tech gave us was the skills and confidence to take a risk and start a business here in Cookeville that has allowed us to stay close to our alma mater and invest in this town we love so much,” said Anna Dunn in her remarks.
Tyler Dunn added words of wisdom for graduates gleaned from the couple’s own experiences running a business, sharing that “good things take time, but they’re worth the wait, challenges can be overcome when you are confident in your calling, and success is all the more rewarding when you pull up others alongside you to share in life’s mountaintop moments together.”
Islam, a 1968 Tech graduate who went on to become a highly successful transportation infrastructure businessman and generous philanthropic leader, recalled his experience coming to Tech from his native Bangladesh, saying “I arrived here with a heart full of dreams and a mere $400 in my name.”
Islam credited “the warmth of this community and the dedication of the faculty at Tennessee Tech” for providing him a foundation to succeed and challenged graduates to “reach higher and dream bigger than those who came before you.”
Video of Tech’s morning commencement ceremony, which included the College of Agriculture and Human Ecology, the College of Business, the College of Engineering and the College of Fine Arts, can be viewed here.
Video of Tech’s afternoon ceremony which included the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, the College of Interdisciplinary Studies and the Whitson-Hester School of Nursing, can be viewed here.
Students from the College of Graduate Studies received degrees at both the morning and afternoon ceremonies based on their field of study.
Tennessee Tech is ranked as a “Best National University” by U.S. News & World Report. The university offers more than 225 programs of study, and Tech grads leave with the least debt of all public universities in the state. In fact, based on total cost and alumni earnings, Tech provides students with the highest return on investment for any public university in Tennessee, according to PayScale. Find out more at www.tntech.edu.
