From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Thu May 01 2003 - 09:20:25 EDT
May 1, 2003 == MEDIA ADVISORY
Calvin College will hold its annual Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 24
at 3 p.m. in its Fieldhouse. Commencement 2003 marks the 83rd such conferring
of four-year degrees in Calvin's 125-year history.
This year's ceremony will feature a graduating class of approximately 900
students. Calvin awarded its first bachelor's degrees in 1921 to a senior
class of eight men.
The 2003 Commencement speaker will be John M. Perkins, a sharecropper's son
who grew up in Mississippi amidst dire poverty (see below for further bio
details).
Calvin's 2003 Commencement Ceremony also will be marked by the presentation of
Calvin's highest alumni honor -- the Distinguished Alumni Award -- to Robert
Swierenga and Paul VandenBout (see below for bios). Calvin College has
presented its Distinguished Alumni Awards -- intended to honor those who have
made significant contributions in their field of endeavor -- annually since
1966.
And a quartet of Calvin professors will mark their final Commencements as they
move from the classroom into retirement. Together the four - Edward Ericson
(26 years), Sanford Leestma (35 years), James Timmer (33 years) and Lambert Van
Poolen (35 years) - have served Calvin for a combined 129 years!
SCHEDULE FOR COMMENCEMENT WEEKEND
Commencement weekend begins Friday, May 23 with a 5 p.m. worship service in
the Calvin Chapel followed by a Commencement Cookout on the Commons Lawn for
seniors and their families. Also that evening there will be an art department
reception and the education department's teacher certificate ceremony (7:30 pm
in the Fine Arts Center) in which Calvin's numerous future teachers are
recognized.
On Saturday, May 24 things begin with the annual senior breakfast (9 am in the
Commons Dining Hall), followed by an 11 am Commencement Rehearsal in the Calvin
Fieldhouse (mandatory for all grads) and the actual event at 3 pm followed by a
4:30 pm reception on the Commons Lawn.
For more info see www.calvin.edu/commencement
BIO OF 2003 COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER JOHN M. PERKINS
Born in Mississippi, Perkins fled to California when he was 17 after his older
brother's murder at the hands of a town marshal. He vowed never to return.
However, in 1960, after his conversion to Christ, he returned to his boyhood
home to share the gospel of Christ with his people. His outspoken support and
leadership role in civil rights demonstrations resulted in repeated harassment,
imprisonment and beatings. Despite dropping out of school in the third grade,
Perkins has received recognition for his work with seven honorary doctorates.
He is an international speaker and teacher on issues of racial reconciliation,
leadership and community development. Perkins is assisted by 2000 Calvin
graduate Nate Bradford, who began working for Perkins as an intern and now
coordinates the Inside Out Prison Ministry Association and serves as a
community organizer focused on developing an aftercare network of services for
ex-offenders. (For more on Perkins and the John M. Perkins Foundation, see
http://www.jmpf.org/)
BIOS OF DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS
Dr. Robert Swierenga, a 1957 Calvin graduate, is A.C. Van Raalte Research
Fellow at Hope College and a professor of history emeritus at Kent State
University. Dr. Swierenga is the "dean of scholars" concerning Dutch-American
studies in the 19th and 20th
centuries. His recent 928-page volume, Dutch Chicago, has won accolades from
historians and lay-audiences. In 2000, he was knighted by Queen Beatrix of The
Netherlands in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.
Dr. Paul Vanden Bout, a 1961 grad of Calvin, is director emeritus of the
National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Va. Dr. Vanden Bout is
a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy, a science that now brings us more
information about the nature of the universe than optical studies. While
currently on sabbatical at Columbia University, he remains the NRAO's leader in
developing the next stage in radio astronomy, the construction of the
international ALMA site in Chile.
-end-
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