University of New Orleans graduate Patrick Scheuermann, who is the director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will address his alma mater's fall commencement on Dec. 15 at 3 p.m. in the UNO Lakefront Arena. About 1,100 students are expected to receive diplomas, spokesman Adam Norris said.

A New Orleans native who earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1986, Scheuermann joined the space agency in 1988.

Before moving to Huntsville in September, Scheuermann had been director of the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss., and, before holding that job, chief operating officer of NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

Among the programs Scheuermann worked on at Stennis was a program to develop rockets that could be reused.

In other UNO news, leaders of that institution and Delgado Community College have signed an agreement to ease the way for Delgado graduates with associate of applied science degrees in the allied health program to transfer their credits to UNO to pursue bachelor's degrees in interdisciplinary studies.

The pact, technically known as an articulation agreement, takes effect immediately, Norris said.

Delgado's allied health program includes specialties such as health information technology, funeral-service education, radiologic technology and respiratory-care technology.

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UNO's fall commencement speaker is director of Marshall Space Flight Center