St. Norbert College Announces Commencement Speaker, Honorary Degrees

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From St. Norbert College, April 21, 2022
by Mike Counter, mike.counter@snc.edu, 920-403-3089

2004 St. Norbert College graduate Dr. Oluyemisi Adeyemi-Fowode, who served as doctor of pediatric and adolescent gynecology at Texas Children’s Hospital and former assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine, will be St. Norbert College’s commencement speaker on Sunday, May 15, at 11 a.m., outdoors on the quad west of the Ray Van Den Heuvel Campus Center on the college’s De Pere campus. Baccalaureate Mass will take place on Saturday, May 14, at 4 p.m. in the same location.


Follow http://www.snc.edu/commencement for changes to commencement or the Mass due to inclement weather.


Adeyemi-Fowode, who started her college journey at the age of 15, graduated from St. Norbert College magna cum laude in 2004 at age 19 with a degree in chemistry (pre-med track). She was the student speaker for her graduating class that year. She went on to earn her medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 2009 and completed her residency at Baylor College of Medicine in 2013.


Since graduating from St. Norbert, she served on the college’s board of trustees until 2011. In 2015, she was part of a 24-person surgical team that undertook the separation of 10-month-old conjoined twins at Texas Children’s Hospital. This historic surgery lasted nearly 26 hours.


In March 2022, she opened Texas Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology in Houston, where she lives with her husband, Tosin, and their three children.

Mark Stinski, Ph.D., will receive an honorary degree from St. Norbert where he began his journey into the medical research field. Stinski, a professor emeritus of microbiology at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine, has been recognized as a prominent researcher in virology.

His laboratory discovered the CMV promoter, a protein-making tool that is useful in developing several therapeutic drugs. Researchers use the CMV promoter as a part of genetic and cellular research. It has resulted in more effective treatments for several major diseases, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.


Stinski was mentored by St. Norbert College professor Rev. Anselm Keefe during his two years at St. Norbert. Keefe taught a course on worldwide diseases and vaccinations that sparked Stinski’s interest in microorganisms and later helped Stinski transfer to Michigan State University to complete his undergraduate studies in microbiology.

Fred Schmidt, vice chair of the St. Norbert College Board of Trustees and a 1975 graduate of St. Norbert, will authorize the conferring of master’s and baccalaureate degrees. St. Norbert College President Brian Bruess, a 1990 SNC graduate, will award the degrees and diplomas with the assistance of David Bailey, associate vice president for academic affairs and professor of biology.


There are 508 students in the 2022 graduating class, including 490 candidates for baccalaureate degrees and 18 candidates for master’s degrees.


The Rev. James Neilson, O.Praem., assistant to the president for mission integration and a 1988 SNC graduate, will deliver the benediction.


The student speaker at commencement is graduating senior Jonathan Contreras of Milwaukee. The national anthem will be sung by graduating senior Trent Larson of Greenville, Wis.; graduating senior Kassidy Freund of Fond du Lac, Wis., will serve as honor conductor.

For more information on St. Norbert College’s commencement, including livestreaming, go to http://www.snc.edu/commencement.


St. Norbert College “Inside the Class of 2022."

315 Female
193 Male
Total 508

241 Bachelor of Arts
147 Bachelor of Business Administration
15 Bachelor of Music
87 Bachelor of Science
14 Master of Business Administration
4 Master of Theological Studies

253 Students who are graduating with honors

Graduates from 15 States:

Alabama
Arizona
California
Florida
Iowa
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Michigan
Minnesota
New Hampshire
Tennessee
Texas
Washington
Wisconsin

Ethnic breakdown:

7 African American/Black
5 American Indian/Alaskan Native
3 Asian
16 Hispanic
9 Multiracial
9 Race/Ethnicity Unknown 1 International Student (India)