Central Methodist University held its spring commencement Saturday, May 9, at 1 p.m. in Puckett Fieldhouse on the Fayette campus — about as close to home as a college graduation gets for this stretch of Howard County, per CMU’s own announcement.
The speaker was Terry L. Henderson, a 1983 CMU graduate and current vice chairman of the university’s board of trustees, who spent more than 30 years in executive roles at Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America before retiring as general manager of administration. Henderson also holds a master’s degree from Lindenwood University and serves on several boards focused on regional economic development and anti-trafficking work.
CMU livestreamed the ceremony on its YouTube channel for family who couldn’t make the trip to Fayette. A separate commencement for the university’s Park Hills campus followed a week later, on May 16.
Why it matters here: Fayette is the county seat next door, and CMU is the biggest institution in Howard County — plenty of Rocheport-area families have a CMU grad, a CMU employee, or a CMU degree of their own on the wall. Worth marking the day, even without a headcount of graduates, which CMU’s release didn’t include.