Lakeland University’s graduation ceremonies are May 11. Here's what to know about this year's commencement speakers.
SHEBOYGAN — Sheboygan County Circuit Court Judge Natasha Torry will headline speakers at Lakeland University commencement ceremonies May 11.
Torry will speak at the Kellett undergraduate ceremony 1 p.m., for evening and online school program participants.
LAK Group President and Managing Partner Michael Grubich will speak at the master’s degree ceremony at 10 a.m. and First Stage Artistic Director Jeff Frank will speak at the traditional undergraduate ceremony 4 p.m.
Lakeland will grant all the speakers honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. The ceremonies will be held in the Wehr Center’s Woltzen Gym.
Here’s what to know about the speakers.
Natasha Torry has served as the county's Circuit Court Judge for Branch 2 since spring 2023
Torry has served as a circuit court judge for Sheboygan County since last spring. She is also serving her third term as the Sheboygan Area Municipal Court Judge.
Involved in the community, Torry is on the Boys & Girls Club of Sheboygan County and John Michael Kohler Arts Center board of directors. She previously served on the State Bar of Wisconsin Family Law Section Board and the Local Bar Relations Committee.
Torry also served as a staff attorney at Legal Action of Wisconsin with a focus on housing, family, employment law for individuals with low incomes, owned and operated a private practice for seven years, and practiced at Legal Services of Northeastern Wisconsin and Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee.
She earned a law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School in 2001 and a bachelor’s degree in politics in government from Ripon College in 1998.
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Michael Grubich has more than 20 years of leadership experience, working at Aurora Health Care and Kohler Co.
Michael Grubich has more than 25 years of leadership and human resources experience. He’s written a book titled “Leadership on Purpose” and held previous roles, like Aurora Health Care senior vice president for talent and organization development, Kohler Co. global director for talent & diversity and Racine-based CNH Industrial global human resources vice president.
His community involvement includes serving as the Special Olympics Wisconsin board of directors' chairman and formerly Waukesha’s Catholic Memorial High School board chair. He is an adjunct faculty member at Marquette University’s business school and the UW-Milwaukee's health care administration master’s degree program.
He earned a master’s degree in business administration from Lake Forest Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University.
Jeff Frank, with a background in children's theater, has directed nearly 100 shows
Jeff Frank has directed almost 100 shows, several of which have been developed under his tenure, like Theater for Young Audience’s version of “Peter Pan and Wendy,” “The Wiz” and “Big, the Musical.” He was also involved in the development of adaptations of “Swiss Family Robinson” and “Gathering Blue.”
Some productions he was involved with showcased in an international festival of children’s theater in London and Moscow.
Before becoming the artist director of Milwaukee-based First Stage, the third-largest TYA in the U.S., Frank served as First Stage’s Education and Academy Director from 1996 to 2003. The program’s aim is on literacy and character education, teaching life skills through the theater.
He earned a master’s degree in child drama from the University of Utah and a bachelor’s degree in theater from UW-Whitewater.
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This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Natasha Torry among speakers at 2024 Lakeland University graduation
