Et cetera : Hawkeye Community College Commencement Ceremony Set for May 8

Retired Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson.

The Hawkeye Community College commencement ceremony is set for Friday, May 8, at 7:00 p.m. The ceremony will be held at the McLeod Center on the University of Northern Iowa campus, located at 2501 Hudson Road, Cedar Falls. The event recognizes fall 2025, spring 2026, and summer 2026 graduates. 

Keynote speaker will be retired Black Hawk County sheriff Tony Thompson. Sheriff Thompson has more than 30 years of professional law enforcement experience and 21 years as a U.S. Army military police officer. He spent the last 16 years of his career as the sheriff of Black Hawk County, where he oversaw a staff of 140 members and a budget of approximately $20 million. 

He worked in nearly every discipline in law enforcement, including computer crimes investigations, street-level narcotics investigations, corrections, patrol, SWAT, community services, public affairs, and drug education.

Sheriff Thompson is known statewide for his mental health advocacy and diversion efforts from the criminal justice system. He served on the Complex Mental Health Needs Subcommittee for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and helped frame the mental health redesign legislation in 2012. He has also served on the state's Public Safety Advisory Board, Iowa's Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Advisory Council. He is a past president of the Iowa State Sheriffs' and Deputies' Association and continues to serve on several local boards, committees, and councils.

He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Northern Iowa in communication studies and a master's degree in public administration and criminal justice from Liberty University.

Students speaker will be Brock Ruzicka from La Porte City, Iowa, who is graduating from the Automotive Technology program this spring.

No tickets are necessary to attend the graduation ceremony. Family and friends who are unable to attend can watch the livestream on Hawkeye’s YouTube channel. For more information about the ceremony, visit www.hawkeyecollege.edu/commencement-2026.