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Advocate, Entertainer, Award winning Journalist MaryTherese Tebbe
to speak at Wesleyan College 2009 Commencement
MACON, Ga. — Wesleyan College’s graduating seniors anxiously await the call to action and inspiration of commencement speaker and award-winning journalist MaryTherese Grabowski-Tebbe. Wesleyan expects to graduate 105 candidates for undergraduate degrees (101 will earn Bachelor of Arts degrees and 4 will earn Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degrees) and 11 for Master of Arts degrees on May 9, 2009. In a separate ceremony on May 2, Wesleyan will award 17 graduate degrees to professionals through its Executive Master of Business Administration program.
2009 Commencement Speaker MaryTherese Grabowski-Tebbe is the Executive Director of the 21st Century Partnership, a non-profit organization committed to enhancing the military value of Robins Air Force Base and the Middle Georgia community. She is responsible for executing the Partnership’s plan of work and serving as the community liaison with Robins Air Force Base, the State of Georgia, congressional delegations, and community entities for all community matters that impact the Base. From aerospace economic development, work force development, new missions, and quality of life issues, Tebbe has a key role in ensuring the growth of Robins Air Force Base, the state’s largest industrial complex. Tebbe joined the Partnership in March of 2006 and is the first executive director to lead the organization.
On the side, she is the president of her own business, MT Communications and Consulting, and provides professional image consultation, creative marketing, media relations, and media training. An active community leader, Tebbe hosted the annual Children's Miracle Network Broadcast from 1994 to 2005 and is a past board member of the Children's Hospital at the Medical Center of Central Georgia. In these capacities, she helped the organization raise more than $5 Million. Currently, she volunteers with Houston County Habitat and The Make a Wish Foundation, and serves on the board of the United Way.
Tebbe graduated from Warner Robins High School and later earned a bachelor’s degree, majoring in communication, from Wesleyan College in 1992. Her career in communications began immediately after commencement. Starting out, she worked as a disc jockey on the local FM WAYS radio while working part time in television.
From 1998 to 2006, Tebbe delivered top news stories “straight from the heart” as the co-anchor of Eyewitness News for local CBS affiliate WMAZ TV Ch13. In addition to managing a staff of reporters, producers and video journalists, Tebbe researched and produced award-winning investigative stories that have been recognized for excellence by the Associated Press, The Georgia Association of Broadcasters, and the Gannett Corporation. For seven years, she coached WMAZ’s award-winning Junior Journalist program, working with young middle school students and honing their communications skills to produce stories for air twice a week.
As a successful television journalist, Tebbe covered everything from crime and politics to NASCAR and children. In fact, she was Gannett’s first female NASCAR reporter. Tebbe covered the military extensively from 1999 until her retirement from broadcasting in 2006. Still today, she serves as the volunteer host for the annual Operation Seasons Greetings tour with the Band of the Air Force Reserve from Robins Air Force Base. Since 2000, she has logged more than 150,000 miles traveling as the show emcee to lift the spirits of troops and their families deployed all over the world. She has performed in Japan, Korea, the DMZ, Hawaii, Alaska, Germany, Turkey, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, England, Italy, and throughout the Middle East. She reports for television from those locations making connections with troops and their families back in the states.
The Georgia Association of Broadcasters named Tebbe "TV Personality of the Year" for 2005. The Ad Council of Central Georgia and Georgia Trend Magazine also have recognized her for professional excellence. In 2008, she was designated a Georgia Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Middle Georgia. She is a former Miss Macon, Miss Warner Robins, and Miss Houston County Fair.
Baccalaureate
Friday, May 8, 2009. 6:15pm Marker ceremony at Old Wesleyan campus site located in downtown Macon is followed at 7:00pm by Baccalaureate at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church. Students and faculty process in regalia from Old Wesleyan campus site (at main post office on College Avenue) to the church.
2009 Commencement Exercises
Saturday, May 9, 2009. 10:00am Commencement Exercises
Wesleyan College Porter Auditorium. MaryTherese Grabowski-Tebbe, a 1992 Wesleyan College graduate and Executive Director of the 21st Century Partnership, will speak. (478) 757-5134.
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