All - College Convocation

Mount Aloysius College will hold its All-College Convocation, the ceremony marking the opening of a new academic year on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. on the Whalley Plaza. Among the highlights of this year's Convocation will be the presentation of the new class of students. 

The Convocation's featured speaker will be Dr. Zane H. Gates, MD. In memory of his mother, Dr. Gates has established The Gloria Gates Memorial Foundation. This foundation is an after-school program for disadvantaged youths in the projects where Dr. Gates grew up.  It is his attempt to instill in young people confidence and the desire to succeed and to teach them to "dream again."  The program is geared for at-risk children ages 4-12 and provides homework assistance and special programming in the evenings during the school year and on weekends during the summer months.  Many volunteers of the program are college students majoring in elementary education at local colleges and universities.

Dr. Zane H. Gates, MD was born and raised in Altoona by a single mother in a low to moderate income housing development.  A graduate of Bishop Guilfoyle High School, he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1995, and completed  his Residency in Internal Medicine in 1997 at the Allegheny University Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA.  Once he became a physician, he did not forget his roots.  His concern for patients with little or  no access to medical care because they did not have health insurance or because many area physicians would not accept patients on medical assistance was very apparent when he established the first free health care clinic for adults in the Altoona area.  This free clinic, located at Bon Secours Hospital, is called Partnering for Health Services and is part of the Altoona Regional Health System.