Urbana University to Celebrate 109th Commencement

Thomas E. Shoupe

Urbana University will celebrate its 109th Commencement on Saturday, May 12, when 130 students are scheduled to receive their diplomas. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in the Warren G. Grimes Center gymnasium.

Dr. Robert L. Head, President of Urbana University, will speak and present graduate and undergraduate degrees to members of the Class of 2007.

Ninety-two students have completed the requirements for a Bachelor of Science degree from Urbana University. The University also will award the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree to 12 students, the Bachelor of Arts degree to seven students, and the Associate of Arts degree to three students. Fourteen graduate students will be awarded the Master of Education in Classroom Teaching and two will receive the Master of Business Administration degree.

Scheduled to give the Commencement Address is Thomas E. Shoupe, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Support Services at Honda of America Manufacturing. Appointed to this position and promoted to Senior Vice President in 2006, Mr. Shoupe is responsible for the Administration, Company Services, Accounting and Finance, Information Services and Compliance and Ethics business teams. He is also a member of the Honda Operations Committee, serving with the company president and other senior officers on this policy-making group.

Mr. Shoupe joined Honda of America in 1988 in Corporate Planning. In 1990, he was named Manager of two departments: Government and Community Relations and Foreign Trade Zone and Customs (Production Control). Mr. Shoupe became Senior Manager of Honda of America’s North American Task Group in 1993. At that time, he and his family joined approximately 100 other associates and their families in Japan to carry out assignments primarily in new model development.

Back in Ohio in September 1995, Mr. Shoupe was named Senior Manager of the Company Services Group. In December 1995, he moved to Honda of America’s East Liberty Auto Plant as Senior Manager of the Manufacturing Planning Group. He was promoted to Assistant Vice President and Assistant Plant Manager of East Liberty Auto Plant in June 1998 and became Plant Manager on October 1, 1998.

In 2000, Mr. Shoupe was promoted to Vice President. He moved to Honda of America’s Marysville Auto Plant as Plant Manager, where he oversaw the Innovation Project which replaced major weld systems and reorganized the assembly line to increase flexibility, efficiency and quality.

Before joining Honda, Mr. Shoupe served as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Representatives Thomas N. Kindness (1983-1986) and Michael G. Oxley (1987-1988). He has a B.A. in Political Science from Miami University at Oxford, Ohio.

He and his wife, Lisa, live in Dublin, Ohio, with their three children, Audra, Emma and Adam.

Also scheduled to speak are William Edwards, Chairman of the Urbana University Board of Trustees, and Archer Thomas, President of the Urbana University Alumni Association.

Urbana University’s band, The Royal Blues, and choir, the University Singers, will provide music during the ceremony.