Bushnell University names Craig Dickison commencement speaker for May 9 ceremony

Bushnell University chose a speaker with deep Lane County roots for its spring commencement, naming Craig Dickison, executive director of Lane County Youth For Christ, for the May 9 ceremony at 10 a.m. in the Morse Center. The university’s Board of Trustees will confer 144 degrees, including 96 undergraduate degrees, 35 graduate degrees and 13 graduate certificates.

Dickison’s selection points to the kind of leadership Bushnell is putting in front of graduates: work that stretches beyond campus and into the lives of local young people. He has served with Lane County Youth For Christ since 2003, leading efforts to reach and mentor students across the Eugene-Springfield area. Before entering vocational ministry, he co-founded a startup in Seattle, giving him both a business background and long experience in community-facing work.

That local footprint matters in Lane County, where youth organizations often become part of the region’s informal support network. Lane County Youth For Christ says its chapter has reached students since 1947 and now serves young people from Eugene to Cottage Grove through Campus Life Middle School, Campus Life High School and Parent Life. For Bushnell, that connection ties the ceremony to a broader pattern of civic leadership that starts with mentorship and continues into public service, schools and churches across the region.

The graduation will take place in Bushnell’s Morse Center at 828 E. 11th Ave. in Eugene, a 12,500-square-foot, 1,200-seat venue that also hosts games, concerts, chapel services and commencement. The university said the event will be livestreamed for family members and supporters who cannot attend in person.

Bushnell said it has been graduating leaders in the community since 1899, when its first graduating class completed its work. The school added an annual December commencement in 2007 for evening and online students, while the spring ceremony remains its primary graduation event each year.

This year’s class is larger than recent spring ceremonies. Bushnell’s 2025 spring commencement included 125 degrees, among them 92 undergraduate degrees and 33 graduate degrees, while the 2024 spring ceremony involved more than 120 graduates. The 2026 total of 144 degrees signals a bigger spring class as Bushnell sends another cohort into Lane County and beyond.