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12/7/2005
Contact: K.E. Schwab -- 724-738-2199;
e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu
SRU TO AWARD 475 DIPLOMAS AT WINTER
COMMENCEMENT: Auntie Anne’s Founder to Speak
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa.
– When Slippery Rock University awards nearly 475
diplomas on Dec. 17 all of them will be special, but one will be
extra special, the one going to Burnell Smucker whose aunt, Anne F.
Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne’s Inc., franchisor of the
world’s largest mall-based pretzel franchise, is the
commencement speaker.
Commencement will
be held at 1:30 p.m. in Morrow Field House. Tickets are required
and all graduating seniors and graduating master’s degree
candidates may pick up, up to five tickets when ordering their cap
and gown at the SGA Bookstore located in the University
Union.
SRU President
Robert M. Smith will confer the degrees, and Eric L. Holmes, a 1993
SRU graduate and president of the SRU Alumni Association, will
induct the graduates as new alumni members. Music will be provided
by SRU faculty Dr. Stephen Hawk and Dr. Nanette Kaplan Solomon,
with Darcie Bell, a music education major from East Brady,
leading the “SRU Alma Mater.” The SRU
Women’s Quartet, including Ashley Richards of Harmony, Lisa
Cifrulak of Jefferson Hills, Amanda Minor of Johnstown and Jessica
Brown of Ridgway, will present “The Star-Spangled
Banner.”
Smucker, a health
and physical education from Gap, suggested his aunt to the
commencement planning committee and the idea quickly took hold.
Beiler personifies SRU’s rock-solid values, including
“purpose” and “people.” Like, SRU, Beiler
is dedicated to community service and developing programs to meet
daily challenges. Beiler has said she believes the success of
Auntie Anne’s “comes from three Ps: purpose, plus
product, plus people,” adding “With each
‘P’ working together, you can profit.”
The Lancaster
County native launched her successful business in 1988 by selling
fresh-baked pretzels at a farmers’ market in Dowingtown. The
company has grown to support more than 250 franchisees and their
850-plus locations worldwide. Auntie Anne’s generated more
than $250 million in sales in 2004 and provided more than $1
million to charitable organizations. The company has now expanded
into a line of frozen drinks, frozen custard and a line of casual
dining restaurants.
Beiler traces her
success to her Amish-Mennonite upbringing where she was the third
of eight children. As a youngster, she was introduced to
entrepreneurship by baking cakes and pies her family sold at
markets.
Named one of
America’s 500 women entrepreneurs by Working Woman and named
“Entrepreneur of the Year” by Inc. Magazine, Beiler has
been featured on the Food Network’s “Unwrapped”
and has appeared on “Oprah.” She is often quoted for
saying, “If you want to be great, serve those around
you.” She has also served as commencement speaker at
Elizabethtown College.
She originally
entered the business world as a way of helping her husband, Jonas,
and his efforts toward opening a counseling center in their
community. His dream of helping others was realized with the
opening of the Gap Family Center. In other public appearances she
has said, "My purpose focused on three things: to give, to treat
people with respect and dignity, and to make sure my customers get
fresh hot pretzels,” adding, in life, "I focused on what I
had, not what I didn’t have." Earlier this year, the company
was sold to a second cousin Sam Beiler who now serves as president
and chief executive officer.
A reception for
graduates and their guests will follow in Weisenfluh Dining
Hall.
PN, PGN, WPN, PR, PT
BeilerCommencement.kes.doc
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