THIBODAUX, La. – Nicholls’ 116th Commencement Ceremonies will take place on Saturday, May 17, 2025, in Stopher Gymnasium, featuring alumni guest speakers.
Session I at 9 a.m. will feature the Al Danos College of Business and the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences. The guest speaker will be Dr. Jenna Chiasson, deputy superintendent of teaching and learning at the Louisiana Department of Education. In this role, Chiasson has collaborated with policymakers, industry partners and education leaders to transform early literacy instruction across almost 200 school systems and led support for educators and families through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Session II at noon will feature the College of Liberal Arts and the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute. The guest speaker will be Elise Hotard Blanchard, senior user experience designer at Mozilla. In this role, Blanchard has led all user experience, interaction, accessibility and qualitative research on mozilla.org, working with leadership and developers to grow the company’s presence and design system, implement marketing campaigns and optimize user flows to install Mozilla products like Firefox, Mozilla VPN and Mozilla Innovation Projects.
Session III at 3 p.m. will feature the Thibodaux Regional Health System School of Nursing and the College of Sciences and Technology. The guest speaker will be Dr. Barry G. Landry, retired general surgeon and lieutenant colonel who served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 2015 to 2023. Throughout Landry’s career, he served as chief of surgery and staff at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, a member of the Louisiana State Medical Society Board of Governors, president of Thibodaux Physicians Investors, a general surgeon at Thibodaux Surgical Specialists and Nicholls Athletics’ team physician for 30 years
Landry is a founding member, president and currently, the medical director of the Bayou Regional Surgery Center. He earned three Army Commendation Medals, two with a Combat Device, and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with a Campaign Star for heroic service in a combat zone.
This is a ticketed event. To learn more, visit www.nicholls.edu/commencement.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, May 9, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT: Payton Suire
Media Relations & Publications Coordinator,
985.448.4141 or payton.suire@nicholls.edu
