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Journalist Juan Williams will be principal speaker May 24
Lafayette will grant 599 degrees to 578 graduating seniors at the College’s 173rd Commencement Saturday, May 24.
The event will feature an address by journalist Juan Williams and will include the awarding of four honorary degrees. The processional will begin at 2:15 p.m. and the program at 2:30 p.m. Also scheduled for Saturday is a Baccalaureate service at 10:30 a.m. with a sermon by Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, dean of Washington National Cathedral.
Both the Baccalaureate and Commencement ceremonies will be held on the Quad. In case of rain, they will be held in Allan P. Kirby Sports Center. If there is a change in the location for the ceremonies based on weather, the information will be available by calling (610) 330-5809.
President Daniel H. Weiss will award Williams the honorary degree of Doctor of Journalism. Also receiving honorary degrees will be Lloyd (Doctor of Divinity); John A. Fry ’82, president of Franklin & Marshall College (Doctor of Humane Letters); and Nicholas Katzenbach, former attorney general of the United States (Doctor of Laws).
There will be a memorial tribute to Howard Jeffrey Marblestone, Charles Elliott Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures, who passed away Jan. 29. Weiss will read the tribute.
Read about Howard Marblestone.
Nathan Parker ’08 will deliver farewell remarks for the class of 2008. He is the recipient of the George Wharton Pepper Prize, awarded to the senior who “most closely represents the Lafayette ideal.” Parker, of Milford, N.H., will graduate with an A.B. in biology.
The first student to receive her diploma will be Lia Mandaglio ’08, who achieved the highest cumulative grade-point average in the class. Mandaglio, of Annandale, N.J., will receive an A.B. with majors in psychology and English.
Amanda Niederauer ’08, Steven Roe ’08, and Andrew Stella ’08, co-chairs of the Class of 2008 Gift Committee, will present the class gift. Niederauer, of Bernardsville, N.J., will receive an A.B. with majors in art and American studies. Roe, of Lackawaxen, Pa., will receive a B.S. in mechanical engineering. Stella, of Midland Park, N.J., will receive an A.B. in economics and business.
Weiss will congratulate the recipients of annual Lafayette awards for distinguished teaching, scholarship, and service to the College and recognize June Schlueter, Charles A. Dana Professor of English, and Mercedes Benitez Sharpless, librarian in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, who are retiring and have been elected to emerita status.
Weiss will confer degrees upon the graduates and deliver farewell remarks. Assisting in presenting diplomas will be James Woolley, Frank Lee and Edna M. Smith Professor of English and clerk of the faculty, and Hannah W. Stewart-Gambino, Dean of the College.
Guy L. Hovis, John H. Markle Professor of Geology, the faculty member who is senior in the rank of full professor, will lead the academic procession as Bearer of the Mace. James F. Krivoski, vice president for student affairs, will marshal the class of 2008.
Wendy L. Hill, provost and dean of the faculty, will march at the head of the faculty. Trustee Emeritus Thomas F. McGrail ’55 will lead the trustees and the platform party.
John P. Colatch, College chaplain and director of religious life, will deliver the invocation and give the benediction. Jennifer W. Kelly, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities, will lead the singing of “America the Beautiful.” Members of the Lafayette Choir, led by Kelly, will lead the singing of “The Alma Mater.”