Susan O'Malley, who broke glass ceilings for women in the field of sports administration, will give the address for Coastal Carolina University's fall commencement exercises. Two ceremonies are scheduled, the first on Friday, Dec. 16, at 6 p.m. and the second on Saturday, Dec. 17, at 8:30 a.m. at the HTC Center on campus. A total of 717 students are eligible to receive their degrees at the ceremonies. Graduation candidates from the College of Science and the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities will be recognized at the Friday event, and candidates from the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration, the Spadoni College of Education and University College will be recognized on Saturday.

O'Malley, who will receive the honorary degree Doctor of Science, is the former president of Washington Sports Entertainment. She became the first female president of a professional sports franchise at age 29 when she assumed the leadership of the NBA's Washington Bullets (now the Wizards). In her 20-year tenure with Washington Sports, she also ran the Verizon Center, the WNBA's Washington Mystics and Ticketmaster Washington-Baltimore. A skilled motivator, she led the organization to achieve the largest ticket revenue increase in the history of an NBA franchise to date.

Currently a senior instructor at the University of South Carolina, O'Malley earned a juris doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor's degree in marketing from Mount St. Mary's University in Baltimore.

CCU's commencement ceremonies will also include the presentation of awards to outstanding graduates for academic achievement.

Friday's ceremony will be presented in a live web stream at Friday. The Saturday ceremony will be presented at Saturday.

Overflow seating is available in Wheelwright Auditorium.