When hundreds of Campbell graduates walked across the stage during this year’s commencement ceremony, family members and friends watched with pride from the audience. For one graduate, her father watched her receive her degree from half a world away.Sarah Magruder, a participant in the 3/2 program at the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business, received her Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration during the commencement ceremony Monday, May 15, 2007.Her father, Lieutenant Colonel Charley Magruder has been stationed in Iraq with the 358th Civil Affairs command since February. He had initially hoped to obtain a leave of absence to attend his daughter’s graduation and hooding ceremony, but learned he would not be able to come home for the event. After exhausting other possibilities, his wife Linda turned to Campbell University to determine if there was any way the event could be captured and viewed by her husband in real-time so he could simultaneously watch the ceremony from Iraq.The University arranged with Sonic Foundry, a media communications company, to webcast the graduation and hooding ceremonies. To watch the graduation, Lieutenant Colonel Magruder simply logged onto the Campbell University homepage and clicked on a web link which then launched the live webcast. He also has the ability to watch the ceremony again later on-demand simply by clicking the same web link.”My husband as well as his parents, friends and fellow soldiers are so grateful,” said Linda Magruder. “To be able to have him witness the moment that our daughter is rewarded for five years of study — half way around the world in a combat zone — is truly remarkable.””Campbell University was thrilled with Sonic Foundry’s decision to provide a webcast of the graduation exercises to Miss Magruder’s father and all others desiring to view the ceremony via their Mediasite technology,” said John Roberson, vice president for marketing and planning for Campbell University. “The University is grateful for the company’s interest in and willingness to accommodate this very important broadcast.”
Campbell graduate’s father watches ceremony from Iraq