Ashworth College Announces Falan Taylor as 2011 Graduation Speaker

Ashworth College Alumna, Author, Internet Host, and Professional Chef Returns to Alma Mater to Deliver Commencement Address

NORCROSS, Ga., July 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ashworth College, (http://www.ashworthcollege.edu) a leading online school, today announced that Ashworth Alumna Falan Taylor, professional chef, author, and host of the online cooking program Housewife, will be the keynote speaker at the fifth annual graduation ceremony to be held on July 16, 2011 at the Cobb Energy Centre in Atlanta, GA.

Taylor who is based out of West Palm Beach, FL is a 2004 graduate of the Ashworth College Professional Gourmet Cooking and Catering Program. She will be presented with the College's Alumnus of the Year Award.

"In my life, I've found that knowledge truly is power and a pathway to achieving anything you put full energy in," Taylor said. "Attending Ashworth College has been a fundamental building block for my success."

Taylor's formal culinary training began as a military spouse. It was her former husband's deployment to Italy that inspired her to study both locally and as a student in Ashworth's Gourmet Cooking and Catering Program.

"Ashworth not only gave me my first formal culinary training, it also gave me the confidence to write and publish my first cookbook, 'Housewife Cuisine,'" Taylor said.  "There are so many affordable and non-traditional ways to get an education. Thanks to Ashworth I got a foot in the door and a major leap in my career."

In addition to her Ashworth education, she is also a graduate of Texas Culinary Academy's Le Cordon Bleu and Sheffield School of Interior Design (an Ashworth sister school). Taylor is also a member of the United States Personal Chef Association and the American Culinary Federation and in her spare time she enjoys spending time with her daughter and training professionally in Krav Maga, a form of combative martial arts.

"It's always exciting to learn that Ashworth has played such an important part in a graduate's life," said Dr. Leslie Gargiulo, Ashworth College Vice President of Education. "Especially when it is someone like Falan, who has fully utilized her Ashworth training and education to become a successful business woman, entrepreneur, and a positive role model to those who follow in her footstep. We're proud to have her as part of the Ashworth family and thrilled to have her participate in this special occasion."

Dr. Gargiulo went on to comment that attending a live graduation ceremony has special significance for Ashworth graduates. Not only does it honor a long-standing tradition shared by students worldwide, for most graduates it is quite possibly the first live interaction with faculty, staff and other students.

"The average Ashworth student completes their education online, from home, anywhere in the world without stepping foot in a classroom or ever meeting an instructor face-to-face," she said. "Having Falan deliver the keynote speech is testament to this year's graduates that through education, any and everything is possible."

Past Ashworth commencement speakers include two-time Ashworth graduate Didiayer Snyder, team designer on the Emmy Award-winning Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,  Mike Lambert, Executive Director of the Distance Education and Training Council and Dr. Nicole Detling Miller, Ashworth instructor and U.S. Olympic team sports psychologist.

About Ashworth College

As an online school leader, Ashworth College has built a tradition of excellence spanning 25 years, offering students worldwide more than 115 online college degrees, online certificate programs and online high school diploma options that are affordable and fit the busy schedules of working adults. Ashworth offers military education as well as specialized programs for corporate partners and homeschoolers.

Headquartered in Norcross, GA, Ashworth is accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). The Accrediting Commission of the DETC is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency. James Madison High School is further accredited regionally by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI). SACS CASI is an accreditation division of AdvancED. For more information, visit http://www.ashworthcollege.edu.

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Dr. Leslie Gargiulo

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SOURCE Ashworth College