UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- C. Daniel Azzara, vice-president of global innovation and quality for the Hershey Company, will deliver the spring commencement address for Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, college officials announced.

The commencement ceremony, in which 264 students will graduate, is scheduled for 9 a.m. on May 13 in Eisenhower Auditorium at Penn State's University Park campus. Responsible for all of the Hershey Company's research, productdevelopment and quality operations, Azzara served as a graduate assistant at Penn State and as a chemistry teacher in Fairfax County, Va., prior to joining the Hershey Company as a senior biochemist in 1986.

His ascension in the company was steady. Azzara was promoted to group leader of biochemistry research in 1989, manager of ingredients research in 1991, senior manager of ingredients research in 1995 and director of product development in 2001. He was promoted to vice president of global research and development in 2002 and was named to his current position in 2005.

Azzara holds doctoral and master's degrees in food science from Penn State and a bachelor's degree in science education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State named him an outstanding alumnus in 2003.

He is active in the Institute of Food Technologists and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and serves on the boards of the International Life Sciences Institute, the International Food Information Council and the Penn State Food Industry Group. At the commencement ceremony, Rodney Erickson, Penn State provost, will preside. Samuel E. Hayes, former secretary for the state Department of Agriculture, is the representative of the university board of trustees and Dennis Guigent of Wescosville, an environmental and renewable resource economics major, is the student marshal. George Kemp, president of the College of Agricultural Sciences Alumni Society, will recognize Mary Colson of Pilesgrove, N.J., a horticulture major, as outstanding senior; Emily Grove of Shippensburg as outstanding two-year agricultural business graduate; and Dennis Scanlon, professor of agricultural and extension education, as recipient of the college's Excellence in Academic Advising Award.

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EDITORS: For more information, contact Denise Connelly at 814-865-0113 or by e-mail at dcc6@psu.edu.

Jeff Mulhollem Writer/Editor Phone: 814-863-2719 E-mail: jjm29@psu.edu