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Academics

Industry Leader Mark Templeton to Address Summer and Fall 2021 Graduates

The Belltower on a fall afternoon. Photo by Becky Kirkland.
The Belltower on a fall afternoon. Photo by Becky Kirkland.

For Immediate Release

The next outgoing class of NC State graduates will commemorate their academic achievements during the fall commencement ceremony at PNC Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 9 a.m. Alumnus Mark Templeton, former CEO and director of Citrix Systems, will deliver the commencement address. The ceremony will also feature remarks from Shannon Fuller, who is graduating magna cum laude alongside other members of the Wolfpack. 

Templeton earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in product design from NC State in 1975 and then earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Virginia in 1978. Before retiring in 2015, Templeton was president, CEO and director of Citrix Systems, a leader in software for enabling a digital, virtual and collaborative workplace. In his two decades at Citrix, Templeton inspired the company’s virtual workplace vision and led Citrix’s growth from a $15-million business with one product to a global powerhouse with annual revenues of over $3 billion, 100 million users worldwide, and 10,000 employees. 

Today, Templeton is an active board member of both public and private companies, advising entrepreneurial teams from startup to scale-up. 

Fuller, the student commencement speaker, started her undergraduate career more than 25 years ago at Las Positas College in Livermore, California, where she earned an Associate of Arts degree. In 2019, Fuller continued pursuing her undergraduate degree at NC State; she will graduate magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Leadership in the Public Sector. The first in her family to graduate from college, followed by her daughters Camryn and Claire, Fuller completed her degree while working full time at Cisco Systems supporting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Families and friends unable to attend the December commencement ceremony can watch the live-streamed event via go.ncsu.edu/WatchCommencement or the NC State Facebook page.

For more information, please visit the university’s commencement website.