University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) will hold its Guam commencement ceremony at the Hilton Guam Resort and Spa on Saturday, May 4. Commander, Andersen Air Force Base, Brigadier General Thomas B. Palenske, will provide the keynote address.

More than 20 graduates are scheduled to attend the ceremony that will begin at 11 a.m. (Doors open at 10:30 a.m.). Amanda Maguire, Associate Vice President and Deputy Director of UMGC’s Asia Division, will preside over the ceremony.

Brig. Gen. Thomas Palenske is the Commander, 36th Wing, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. He is responsible for the wellbeing of more than 8,000 joint military and civilian personnel executing bomber task forces, tanker task forces, theater security packages, contingency response operations and peacetime and combat operations in the Indo-Pacific. As the Deputy Commander of Joint Region Marianas, he supports Department of Defense installation management of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Brig. Gen. Palenske graduated from Friends University and received his commission in 1995. He has spent the majority of his career in special operations aviation assignments. He is a command pilot with more than 3,500 hours in various aircraft, including the UH-1H, UH-60, MH-60G, MH-53J/M, and CV-22B. Brig. Gen. Palenske has deployed extensively in support of combat, humanitarian assistance, peacekeeping and peace-enforcement operations.

In addition to the ceremony, a post-commencement reception will be held at the same location, beginning about 12 p.m.

For more information about commencement, please visit our website.

Andersen Air Force Base