CCAD commander to give commencement address
Col. Gail Atkins, commander of the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD), will give the guest commencement address Friday, May 24, to local graduates of Saint Leo University.
This year, nearly 50 students from Saint Leo’s Corpus Christi Education Center will be conferred associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees at the 7 p.m. event to be held at the Catalina Club on board Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.
Giving the Class of 2019 farewell will be Ricardo Aleman, who is graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice, and Robyn Champion, who is graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business management.
Mario Magallanez of the Class of 2015 will lead the graduates in the traditional turning of their tassels and welcome them as new alumni.
Atkins has served as commander of the CCAD since July of 2018. Prior to assuming command, she worked at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J8) Pentagon, serving as the force support division chief, a position she took in June 2016.
She also served at Fort Bragg, NC, as a battalion commander of the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade’s Aviation Support Battalion for 30 months.
There, she was responsible for the training and mission readiness of more than 700 soldiers and deployed the unit to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Freedom Sentinel/Resolute Support.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in systems engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, a Master of Science degree in logistics management from the Florida Institute of Technology, and a Master of Science degree in national resource strategy from the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy in the National Defense University.
Saint Leo University’s Corpus Christi Education Center is at NAS Corpus Christi, 10461 D St., Building 1731, Room 206, Corpus Christi, TX 78419. Registration is taking place for the Summer 2 Semester, which begins June 24. Fall 1 Semester classes begin August 19. For information, call (361) 937-1452 or email corpus.christi@saintleo.edu.
Saint Leo University is a modern Catholic teaching university that is firmly grounded in the liberal arts tradition and the timeless Benedictine wisdom that seeks balanced growth of mind, body, and spirit.
The Saint Leo University of today is a private, nonprofit institution that creates hospitable learning communities wherever students want to be or need to be, whether that is a campus classroom, a web-based environment, an employer’s worksite, a military base, or an office park.
Saint Leo welcomes people of all faiths and of no religious affiliation, and encourages learners of all generations.
The university is committed to providing educational opportunities to the nation’s armed forces, veterans, and their families.
Saint Leo is regionally accredited to award degrees ranging from the associate to the doctorate, and the faculty and staff guide all students to develop their capacities for critical thinking, moral reflection, and lifelong learning and leadership.
The main university remains the faithful steward of the beautiful lakeside University Campus in the Tampa Bay region of Florida, where its founding monks created the first Catholic college in the state in 1889.
Serving nearly 12,000 students, Saint Leo has expanded to downtown Tampa, to other sites in Florida and beyond, and maintains a physical presence in seven states.
The university provides highly respected online learning programs to students nationally and internationally.
More than 93,000 alumni reside in all 50 states, in Washington, DC, in three U.S. territories, and in 76 countries.
For more information about Saint Leo University, visit www.saintleo.edu.