Northwestern College to award 399 degrees during May 11 commencement ceremony

Northwestern College will award degrees to a record 399 students during its annual commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 11. Master of Education degrees will be presented to 143 students, while four students will be the first to earn Master of Arts in counseling degrees from NWC. Another 222 students will receive Bachelor of Arts degrees, and 30, Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees.

Northwestern’s previous spring graduating class record was 377, set in 2021.

Two students will be presented with certificates of completion as graduates of the Northwestern NEXT program, a two-year campus life and learning experience for 18- to 22-year-olds with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Commencement will begin at 10 a.m. in the Rowenhorst Student Center. Cynthia Moser, a Sioux City resident and 1974 graduate of Northwestern College, will give the commencement address. The baccalaureate service will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 10, in Christ Chapel. Mark DeYounge, dean of Christian formation, will deliver the homily.

Moser was admitted to the Iowa Bar after graduating with distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law. Licensed to practice law in both Iowa and South Dakota, she was a partner with Heidman Law Firm and focused primarily on health and employment law. Though retired from active practice, she remains of counsel with the firm.

A member of the Iowa State Bar Association (ISBA) throughout her career, Moser served as its president in 2012–13, as well as on its Board of Governors and numerous committees and task forces. She also served on the Iowa State Bar Foundation Board of Directors for nine years and as president of the Iowa State Bar Foundation Fellows organization. In 2018, she received the ISBA Award of Merit, the highest honor given by the association to an Iowa lawyer.

Moser chaired judicial selection committees that interviewed applicants and recommended candidates for nomination and appointment to the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts in Iowa. She is currently serving a six-year term on the Iowa Judicial Qualifications Commission. Previously, she was a commissioner on the Iowa State Judicial Nominating Commission, a member of the U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel, and a member of the Federal Practice Committee for the Northern District of Iowa. She is a Life Fellow of the Iowa State Bar Foundation and the American Bar Foundation.

In addition to service to her profession, Moser is also active in her community and on a state level, where her volunteer efforts have focused on children, education and the arts.