BATON ROUGE — A quartet of former LSU greats, along with three members of the current LSU football team head the list of 41 LSU student-athletes who will participate in the fall commencement exercises Friday morning at the Maravich Assembly Center and other venues on the LSU campus.
NBA Most Valuable Player Shaquille O’Neal, baseball standouts Eddy Furniss and Trey Hodges and women’s basketball standout Katrina Hibbert are among former LSU greats who will receive degrees on Friday, while current LSU football players Louis Williams, Kareem Mitchell and Wardell Sykes will also participate in the fall commencement exercises on Friday.
O’Neal, a member of the LSU basketball team from 1989-92 and selected as one of the NBA’s 50 all-time greatest players, will receive his Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree in general studies.
Furniss, the 1998 National Player of the Year, a member of the 1996 and 1997 NCAA championship baseball teams and current member of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, will also receive his Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in general studies.
Hodges, who helped pitch the Tigers to the 2000 NCAA title and was voted the College World Series MVP, will graduate with an Education degree in kinesiology, as will fellow teammate Ben Saxon.
Hibbert, who recently completed her first season as a member of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, will earn an Education degree in kinesiology.
Other notable graduates include a pair of track and field All-Americans, Alex Forst, who was the 1998 NCAA runner-up in the discus, and Monique Freeman, who was the 2000 NCAA Indoor runner-up in the long jump and helped the Lady Tigers to the 2000 NCAA Outdoor crown. Forst was one of two student-athletes to graduate Summa Cum Laude, earning his degree in Mass Communication, while Freeman will receive an Education degree in kinesiology.
The complete list of student-athlete graduates for the Fall Commencement Exercises:
Agriculture:
Jimmy Taylor, football (vocational education).
Arts and Sciences:
Christian Bourgeois, baseball (general studies); Leah Concannon, gymnastics (English); Caroline Ellender, soccer (general studies); Eddy Furniss, baseball (general studies); Kareem Mitchell, football (general studies); Shaquille O’Neal, basketball (general studies); Candice Porter, basketball (general studies); Charles Smith, football (general studies); Michael Valillo, golf (general studies); Theo Williams, football (general studies).
Basic Sciences:
Brad Cupit, track and field (computer science); Jennifer Johnson, track and field (zoology).
Business Administration
Jason Goltz, swimming (economics); Ana Paula Mores, tennis (international trade and finance); Antoine Simon, baseball (finance); Marc Smith, track and field (general business); Andy Stroup, football (marketing); Ryan Thomassie, football (general business).
Education
Don Alfred, track and field (kinesiology); Tara Asbil, softball (kinesiology); Josh Daulton, baseball (kinesiology); Tina Fountain, track and field (kinesiology); Monique Freeman, track and field (kinesiology); Shaunte` Freeman, softball (kinesiology); Toni Gross, basketball (kinesiology); Katrina Hibbert, basketball (kinesiology); Trey Hodges, baseball (kinesiology); Jeremy Loftice, baseball (kinesiology); Michael Mitchell, football (kinesiology); Taryn Perry, softball (elementary education); Ben Saxon, baseball (kinesiology); Kellye Smith, gymnastics (secondary education); Julie Stashko, softball (kinesiology); Louis Williams, football (kinesiology).
Engineering
Wardell Sykes, football (construction management)
Mass Communication
J.J. Barton, track and field (political communication); Alex Forst, track and field (advertising); Kirsty Nethercott, swimming (public relations); Jack Warner, basketball (public relations).