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Dr. Wayne Clough, secretary emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution and president emeritus of Georgia Institute of Technology, will serve as the keynote speaker at the University of North Georgia's (Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨) summer commencement. More than 400 graduates plan to participate in the Aug. 6 ceremony that marks the first major event in Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨'s return to normal operations.

Clough was Georgia Tech's president from 1994-2008, then led the Smithsonian Institution from 2008-2014. In his Smithsonian role, he oversaw 19 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, numerous research centers, and several education units and centers. A Georgia native, Clough published "Things New and Strange: A Southerner's Journey through the Smithsonian Collections" in 2019. The book weaves together information and artifacts from the Smithsonian collections with Southern culture and history.

Clough taught at Duke University, Stanford University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he worked as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and dean of the College of Engineering. In addition, he served as provost and vice president of the University of Washington.

The ceremony begins at 5 p.m. in the Convocation Center on Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨'s Dahlonega Campus. Marching faculty and other elements of a typical commencement will be back this summer. Separate commissioning ceremonies for members of the Corps of Cadets entering the U.S. Army or Army National Guard will be Aug. 5-6. Individual commissioning ceremonies for the cadets will recognize their service and leadership and formally mark their entry into the military as second lieutenants.

Guests must have tickets to attend the commencement ceremony. Any guest older than 2 years old will be required to have a ticket. Graduation candidates who met the application deadline and replied "yes" to attending the ceremony were allotted six guest tickets each. Graduates are able to claim their allotment of tickets through July 23 via their Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨ student email account. Tickets are distributed electronically.

If graduates claim all six tickets but do not need all of them, they may donate them to Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨ by emailing University Events at universityevents@ung.edu. After the ticket-claiming period ends, any unclaimed or unused tickets will be electronically distributed to graduates who requested additional tickets. More ticket information is available on the commencement website.