MSOE’s 2020 Winter Commencement will be held Saturday, Feb. 29 at 10 a.m. in the Kern Center. The university will celebrate undergraduate and graduate students in engineering majors, the Rader School of Business and the School of Nursing as they receive their bachelor’s or master’s degrees.  

Reid Jahns, from Markesan, Wisconsin, will be the class respondent. Jahns will graduate with high honors and receive a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Civil Engineering.  

Blaine Vollmer, from Plover, Wisconsin, will receive the Alumni Association Award. Recipients of this prestigious award are first nominated by faculty members in their respective academic departments and then the entire graduating class selects from among its peers the students who are most deserving. Vollmer is graduating with high honors and will receive a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.  

Tim Sheehy, president of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce (MMAC), will deliver the keynote address. He also serves on the board of the Milwaukee Development Corporation, an MMAC affiliate. Sheehy chairs the Milwaukee Economic Development Corp. and is a past chair of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. He serves as a director of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. He also serves on the boards of Milwaukee College Prep and Rocketship Community Schools, Teach for America, City Forward Collective, School Choice Wisconsin, Milwaukee Succeeds, and the Badger Institute. He is a past board member of Summerfest. Sheehy has been appointed by three Wisconsin governors to chair various state commissions.  

Prior to joining MMAC, Sheehy was legislative assistant to U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. and a recipient of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Congressional Internship. He also served as a Ford Foundation Fellow on Regional Sustainable Development. He is a graduate of the Institute for Organization Management and a certified chamber of commerce executive. Sheehy graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in political science and was a member of UW’s Division I baseball team.