The School of Business graduation on Monday, July 26, was full of emotion. From a rousing rendition of our national anthem by graduate Michael Harris, to Aaron Elrod's speech on behalf of the grads, to instructor Laura Rosenthal's and Redwood Credit Union CEO Brett Martinez's congratulations and advice on achieving dreams, it was indeed a special night.

Speech transcripts are available at:

Graduate Speech - Aaron Elrod, Information Technology graduate

We are pleased to announce that law school professor Kadin Blonski is this year’s recipient of the Excellence in Education Award presented by the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce. Kadin was selected in the post graduate category for his wonderful work in the Small Claims Clinic. He is an honors graduate from Empire College School of Law. During law school he served as a student supervisor for the Small Claims Clinic. As the clinic director, Kadin has a done a terrific job educating and inspiring his students. In less than 5 years, the clinic has helped over 10,000 people.

Jim Loughborough, Esq. (Class of 2005) and Julie Kurt (Class of 2007) will speak on the topic The Field of Law: Is It For You? at an informational seminar presented by Empire College School of Law. The seminar will be held from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 13, at the College campus, 3035 Cleveland Avenue, Santa Rosa.

Congratulations to Professor Cathren Koehlert, who has been accepted to the Legal Writing Institute's Scholars Workshop this summer. Koehlert is active in the Legal Writing Institute, a nationwide organization of legal writing, research, and skills professors. She will present her article on Using Fiction Point of View Techniques in Legal Writing at the workshop and will exchange critiques with other professors who are working on articles.

Empire College students have embraced a goal of raising funds for Sloan House Emergency Women’s Shelter through a campus-wide carnival on Saturday, June 26. Sloan House, a shelter that houses homeless women and their children, lost its funding and, as a result, may be forced to severely cut the services it provides clients or perhaps even close its doors.

"Although they just graduated from Empire College law school on Sunday, the list of accomplishments of the 23 graduates already reads like a list of movers and shakers." So reads Press Democrat writer Lori Carter's lead sentence in her article about the Class of 2010's commencement exercises. It was definitely an inspiring day.

The full transcript of speeches are availabe as well:

The May issue of the Evening Star is now available. Congratulations to evening accounting student Samantha Bauer on being named May Student of the Month ... and a heartfelt Thank You to IT student Jeffrey Wilson who is heading to Alabama to help with the gulf oil spill cleanup effort!

Empire students are planning a school-wide carnival on Saturday, June 26, to raise money for Sloan House, a Community Action Partnership women's homeless shelter which lost its funding and may close down unless $200,000 is raised by the end of June. 

A variety of activities are planned including a dunk tank and pie toss, along with fun activities for the kids. If you would like to help with the planning, the next meeting is Tuesday, May 25, at 10:50 in Room 213.

Stay tuned to more event details in future blogs!

Our first softball game is this Friday, May 21, at 7:10pm at Rincon Valley Community Park (on Montecito Ave, west of Maria Carillo HS and library). Please come cheer us on to victory!

Wear your blue & white! There are some bleachers but feel free to bring chairs/blankets to sit on, and remember to dress warmly for the cool evenings.

Go Empire!

The Empire College student chapter of the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) hosted a variety of festivities in honor of Administrative Professionals Week, April 18-24. From Outlook and Office 2007 tips and tricks to interviewing workshops, events focus on the essential role administrative professionals play in today’s fast-paced, high-tech business world.