Honorary Degree Recipient David McShane, MFA, ’88, Undergraduate Student Speaker Katie McGovern, ’26, and Graduate Speaker Judith Spires, ’75, MBA ’09, will headline the two ceremonies.

The La Salle University community will come together on Saturday, May 9, 2026, to celebrate the class of 2026 with its annual commencement ceremonies. 

The graduates’ achievements will be honored through two ceremonies at McCarthy Stadium: one for undergraduates at 10 a.m. and one for graduate students at 4 p.m.  

Artist David McShane, MFA, ‘88, and Explorer Katie McGovern, ‘26, will deliver speeches during the undergraduate ceremony as the honorary degree recipient and student speaker, respectively. Attendees of the graduate ceremony will hear from Retail Supermarket Executive Judith Spires, ‘75, MBA 09.   

Learn more about the speakers below. 

David McShane, MFA, ’88, Honorary Degree Recipient  

David McShane, MFA, ’88, grew up constantly making “stuff” with his identical twin brother Frank. They were the youngest of eight siblings raised in Audubon, N.J., by Catholic working-class parents.  

Intending to become a physician, McShane received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from La Salle University in 1988. However, following graduation, he pivoted and decided instead to study drawing and painting. He received a Master of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1995. 

Since then, McShane has been designing and painting murals for Mural Arts Philadelphia and has completed well over 270 large, outdoor, community-based murals in the Philadelphia area. 

His artworks include the Phillies Mural, the Philadelphia Stars Negro League Mural, the Herman Wrice Mural, the Larry Fine Mural, the Mural at Dirty Franks, the Jackie Robinson Mural, the Legendary Blue Horizon Mural, the City of Champions Mural, and nineteen elementary school transformation projects creating murals to beautify the buildings in partnership with the Philadelphia Eagles.   

Outside of Philadelphia, McShane has received grants to create community murals in the local region (Coatesville and Middletown Townships), in the suburbs of Paris, France, and in Dublin, Ireland.  He also creates fine art paintings in his studio and has exhibited his work at the La Salle University Art Museum, Artists’ House Gallery, Temple Gallery of the Tyler School of Art, the University City Arts League, and the Philadelphia Office of Arts and Culture. He taught an evening Honors Seminar in drawing and painting at La Salle for twenty years. In 2007 he taught a mural painting class to Explorers, which resulted in a neighborhood mural on 20th Street just outside of La Salle’s campus.  

McShane is married to artist Eurhi Jones, and they have two adult children, who have both followed in their career footsteps, becoming artists themselves. 

Katie McGovern, ‘26, Undergraduate Student Commencement Speaker  

Katie McGovern, ‘26, grew up in a household that loved both La Salle and Science.  

Her college experience has been made up of a combination of the two. The biology major enrolled at La Salle for several reasons, including the Christian Brothers, the campus community, and the Biology Department.  

Within the Biology Department, she was particularly drawn to the Bioengineering 4+1 Program, a partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which allows juniors to work towards their master’s degree as undergraduates.  

As part of this program, McGovern has opened doors to new possibilities in terms of research, available classes, and professional connections, that complement the ones she already built at La Salle.  

She credits the La Salle community, and the support that comes with it, with giving her the confidence to apply for the program, which felt unobtainable to begin with.  

“La Salle has provided a wealth of opportunities that not only shaped my undergraduate experience but also inspired me to push limits and apply for the 4+1 Accelerated Master’s Program that once seemed so out of reach,” she said.    

Looking to her future, McGovern hopes to go into the biotechnology, pharmaceutical or medical device industry.  

“Ultimately, I want to put my knowledge to use in improving the way people live,” she said.  

Judith Spires, ’75, MBA ’09, Graduate Commencement Speaker   

Judith Spires, ’75, MBA ’09, is the chair of retail and industry relations of InSpire Inc. She is a distinguished retail supermarket executive who has dedicated her entire career to the industry. She began as a part-time cashier at Acme Markets, became the first female management trainee in the company’s history, and rose to president in 2005.  

With more than 40 years of leadership experience, Spires has served as president of Albertsons’ Rocky Mountain and Dallas–Fort Worth divisions. In 2010, she was appointed President and CEO of AG Supermarket Holdings, overseeing Kings and Balducci’s gourmet markets, and was named Chair in 2020. She became CEO of InSpire Inc. Consulting in 2022 and, in 2025, assumed her current role as chair of Retail and Industry Relations.

Spires is deeply committed to expanding employment opportunities and elevating the customer shopping experience. Her contributions have earned numerous honors, including the Philadelphia Paradigm Award, the Lasallian Leadership Award, and recognition as one of the Top Women in Retail. She holds both a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts from La Salle University and has received an honorary doctorate from the Saint Joseph’s University Haub School of Business.  

A dedicated community leader, Spires has served as chair of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey and the New Jersey Food Council. She also served as a Trustee of La Salle University, where she chaired the Advancement Committee. She currently serves as a trustee and finance committee member for Saint Damien’s Roman Catholic Parish in Ocean City, Nj.  

Spires considers her greatest achievement to be her family: her husband, Bob, ’75, their son, Rob, and his wife, Hayley; and her grandchildren, Sloane and Wyatt.