Accounting professor to deliver commencement address to QU graduates on Saturday

QUINCY — Quincy University will have its 160th commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 13, in Quincy University’s football stadium, 20th and Sycamore. The spring graduating class is comprised of 146 undergraduates with an additional 32 graduate degree recipients.

The procession will be led by university marshal, Robert Mejer, distinguished professor of art, and assistant marshals David Kirchhofer and Scott Luaders, professors of physics and chemistry, respectively. QU president Brian McGee will confer degrees and provide remarks.

Kimberly Hale, assistant vice president for academic affairs, will convene the ceremony. Jessica Howell, director of campus ministry, will deliver the invocation, and Father John Doctor, OFM, vice president for mission and ministry, will provide the benediction. Choir members Zoey Griffin, Crystal Middendorf, Joseph Niemerg and Colby Schulz will perform the national anthem and the Quincy University alma mater.

Graduates elected senior representative Middendorf to deliver the program’s welcome address and reflection. She is a psychology major and a member of concert choir, chamber choir and the QU dance team.

Mary Nell (Frier) Meyer, George C. Meyer, John P. Shibles and Thomas Nairn, OFM, will be awarded honorary degrees of doctor of humane letters during the ceremony.

Vicky Eidson will deliver this year’s commencement address. Eidson, a professor of accounting, joined the faculty at Quincy University in 2005. She previously was an associate professor of accounting at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo., and a certified public accountant at Gray Hunter Stenn, LLP in Quincy.

Eidson earned her bachelor’s degree at QU and was a recipient of the Bonaventure award. She earned her master of accountancy from Western Illinois University in Macomb and her doctor of management degree from Webster University. Eidson is a registered certified public accountant and a certified management accountant. She was a recipient of the Illinois CPA Society Outstanding Educator Award in 2016 and has earned multiple excellence in teaching awards.

Eidson has served as the faculty liaison to the Finance Committee of the board of trustees, the chair of the faculty planning and budget committee, a member of the provost and vice president for academic affairs search committee and a member of the faculty advisory committee to the president. Eidson serves as the faculty sponsor for the Institute of Management Accountants club on campus and has sponsored undergraduate research at the 2021, 2022 and 2023 academic symposiums. She was the chair of the Higher Learning Commission Criterion 5 team for both 2019 and 2023 accreditation site visits and has served on the Blessing Corporate Services audit committee since 2005. She was the recipient of the QU Franciscan Service Award in 2017.

The ceremony will be live streamed at:

Additional Commencement festivities include:

• May 12 – Champagne brunch – 11 a.m. – Main Dining Room
• May 12 – Baccalaureate Liturgy – 5 p.m. – St. Francis Chapel, Francis Hall