MEDIA RELEASE__The University of Findlay will host Commencement ceremonies for 2026 graduates on Saturday, May 2 with Christine Denecker, Ph.D., vice president of academic affairs, as the keynote speaker for the morning’s graduate ceremony. She oversees five colleges and more than 80 academic programs. 

Denecker graduated from Bluffton College with degrees in communication and English education and earned her master’s degree in English and her Ph.D. in rhetoric and writing from Bowling Green State University. In her 22 years at UF, she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and the College of Education. Most recently, she served as associate vice president for learning and innovation.

Denecker is the founder of UF’s Teaching Partners Program, and much of her career has been dedicated to supporting the professional development of UF faculty. She currently serves on the Hancock Historical Museum board, the Bluffton Public Library Foundation Board and is president of the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships, the accrediting body for dual enrollment. 

Her publications include the award-winning edited collection: The Dual Enrollment Kaleidoscope: Reconfiguring Perceptions of First Year Writing and Composition Studies and her research has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals.