Methodist College Spring 2016 Graduating Class Represents the End of an Era

Students graduating from Methodist College on Saturday, May 14 will be the last group of graduates who will have completed their degree program at the college’s Downtown campus at 415 NE St. Mark Court. Moving forward, all graduating classes will complete their course of study at the college’s new campus currently under construction on Peoria’s Northside and scheduled to open on July 25.

Methodist College, an affiliate of UnityPoint Health, can trace its history to 1900 when the deaconesses of the Methodist Episcopal Church opened the Deaconess Home and Hospital and its School of Nursing. In March 2000, Methodist College was established and has grown to an enrollment of 624 students; four academic departments: Nursing, Arts and Sciences, Human Services and Community Education; bachelor degree programs in nursing and health sciences; and a master’s degree in nursing education.

The spring 2016 commencement ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 14 at 10 a.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel & Conference Center at 100 Conference Center Drive in East Peoria, Illinois. Eighty-eight students are participating in the college’s commencement ceremony.

The keynote speaker will be the Honorable Toi Hutchinson of the 40th Senate District of the State of Illinois. Hutchinson joined the Senate in 2009 and sits on various committees including serving as Chairwoman of the Senate Revenue Committee. She is an advocate for laws that protect women, children, seniors and people with disabilities, and has been an ardent supporter of transportation development. Hutchinson earned a Bachelor of English degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a law degree from Northern Illinois University College of Law.