Nearly 2,000 students are expected to participate in UNLV commencement ceremonies on May 15.

UNLV registrar Jeff Halverson estimated that about 2,300 students will be eligible to participate in the ceremonies.

For the third consecutive year, UNLV will have two separate spring commencement ceremonies.

The morning ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. Participating in that ceremony will be graduates of the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, College of Liberal Arts, College of Extended Studies, Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, College of Sciences, and College of Fine Arts.

Students receiving degrees from the College of Business, College of Education, Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, and College of Health Sciences will participate in the afternoon ceremony, which will begin at 2 p.m.

Both ceremonies will take place in the Thomas & Mack Center. No tickets are required. The current renovation of the Thomas & Mack Center will require guests to enter the building on the northeast side (facing the university campus). The traffic flow from the streets into the Thomas & Mack Center parking lots will not be affected by the renovation.

Serving as grand marshal at the morning ceremony will be Billie Mae Polson, director of technical services at the James R. Dickinson Library, who is retiring this spring after 40 years at UNLV. The grand marshal at the afternoon ceremony will be English professor Felicia Campbell, who has been at UNLV for 37 years.

As part of the ceremonies, the recipients of the 1999 Distinguished Nevadan Awards, honorary doctorates, and UNLV President's Medal will be recognized.

Receiving the Distinguished Nevadan Award will be Patricia Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority; businessman Milton I. Schwartz; and Mirage Resorts Inc. executives Stephen and Elaine Wynn.

Attorney James E. Rogers will receive an honorary doctor of laws degrees. A second honorary doctor of laws degree will be bestowed posthumously upon attorney Louis Wiener Jr.

Alstate Enterprises president Melvin B. Wolzinger and teacher Lucille S. Rogers will be awarded the UNLV President's Medal.

A hotline message containing additional details about commencement may be reached by calling at 895-3229.

For answers to questions not addressed by the hotline, call Don Schmiedel, chair of the university's commencement committee, at 895-3448.