More Misspellings Found on Radford Diplomas

Radford University graduates are continuing to find mistakes in their diplomas as the school works on a plan to get corrected versions to nearly 1,500 former students.

The school said earlier this week that undergraduate and graduate students who graduated in the fall of 2012 and spring of 2013 received the marred diplomas. On many, the words "Virginia"' and "thereto" were misspelled.

Graduate Marshall Wildberger tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch he checked his diploma after the mistakes were first reported and noticed that his major -- information science and systems -- also was misspelled. Systems is spelled with an "a" instead of an "e" on the diploma Wildberger received last July.

"It's kind of disappointing. You would think for how much you pay for four years for a bachelor's degree, your diploma would be right the first time," said Wildberger, a Mechanicsville resident now working for CapitalOne.

"They don't cut you that break in school when you're writing a paper," he said.

Wildberger said he received his diploma in July after completing one course needed for his degree.

Radford has said it will replace the defective diplomas, but Wildberger thinks the university should pay for reframing as well.

University spokesman Joe Carpenter said the errors were caused when an employee retyped the narrative on the diploma after the software that produces them was upgraded in 2012.

But the error in Wildberger's diploma occurred before that change.

The Radford spokesman said he couldn't speculate about what happened with Wildberger's diploma, except that it may have been printed during a period of time when the software was erroneous.

The university said the diplomas are printed in the registrar's office and that no university print shop or outside printer is used. The corrected versions will be mailed to graduates as soon as possible, the school has said.