Buena Vista University has announced that Ken Paulson, president and CEO of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C., will be the 2013 Commencement speaker on May 25.

BVU's student-operated television station, University Cable Network, and the BVU Concert Band will be celebrating the 65th anniversary of the first simulcast by electronic media of an NBC Symphony Orchestra concert with a special event on March 17.

Tom Osborne, former University of Nebraska head football coach, will be the keynote speaker at a fundraiser for TeamMates of Storm Lake, an organization that conducts a mentoring program for students in local schools.

Nine BVU business majors have been selected for the Clifford A. Rae Academic Achievement Award for 2012. The awards were created by an endowment from the foundations established by Dr. Harold Walter Siebens.

In January, a student and professor became the first representatives of BVU to set foot on Antarctica as part of an academic program. Laura Page and Dr. Melinda Coogan spent two days on one of the South Shetland Islands.

BVU's Student MOVE will host an event called "Glass Slipper Shop" on Feb. 28 and March 1, offering hundreds of new and used formal dresses for sale at a low cost. This is the fifth year for the project.

BVU's student media organizations won several first place awards and other honors at the 2013 conference of the Iowa College Media Association. "The Tack Online" was named the "2012 multimedia organization of the year."

Members of Student MOVE at Buena Vista University will be making a presentation at the National Collegiate Leadership Conference in Tucson, Ariz., this month. Their presentation is entitled "Becoming a Super Hero in a Civic World."

A survey shows that 95.6 percent of the graduates in the Class of 2012 were employed or in graduate school within the first six months after graduation. This rate exceeds the national average rate of 67 percent.

Steve Gutschenritter and Dez Broeg test a solar cell with Dr. Timothy Ehler in their Interim class "How Things Work." The class focuses on understanding the mechanisms and principles behind technological wonders.

The Buena Vista University Theatre has been recognized by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Region 5 Festival. Tyler Klobassa, a junior computer science/information technology major, won three awards for his work in theatre productions.

April Allen, is interning at Meredith Corporation in Des Moines during January. She is writing articles and compiling content for Successful Farming's website.

Students in the Interim class "Drawing Fundamentals" practice contour drawing of still life arrangements as part of their studies of the elements and principles of design.

Students in Dr. David Klee's Interim class rehearse for their capstone concert in Anderson Auditorium. The class covered topics including current trends in the music industry, lyric writing and promotion/press kits.

Since the late educator and philanthropist, Keith Carter of Newell, donated a portion of his Middle Eastern Collection of artifacts to BVU in 2010, students have played an important role in researching, documenting, and restoring the eclectic collection.