The University of Wisconsin–Superior will hold its commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 17, at 2 p.m. at Siinto S. Wessman Arena on campus. Carolyn J. Anderson will deliver the commencement address.

A Superior native, Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from UW-Superior in 1985, followed by a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Florida State University. For over 30 years, her groundbreaking research has helped shape the field of radiometal-based agents for diagnostic imaging and targeted radionuclide cancer therapy—an area now known as theranostics.

Anderson began her academic career in 1993 as an assistant professor of radiology at Washington University in St. Louis. After two decades there, she joined the University of Pittsburgh as a professor of radiology, where she established a small animal imaging resource at the Hillman Cancer Center. In 2016, she became a professor in Pitt’s Department of Medicine, collaborating with clinician-scientists to develop imaging agents.

In 2020, Anderson was named the Simón-Ellebracht Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and professor of radiology at the University of Missouri. She also serves as associate director of the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center and founded MU’s Molecular Imaging and Theranostics Center. She remains actively involved in mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows.

Her work has earned numerous accolades, including the Michael J. Welch Award, Paul C. Aebersold Award, Georg de Hevesy Nuclear Pioneer Award, Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy of Radiology Research, and the Glenn T. Seaborg Award in Nuclear Chemistry from the American Chemical Society.

Siinto S. Wessman Arena is located at 2701 Catlin Ave. in Superior.