Calvin to Celebrate Commencement on May 20

May 11, 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Calvin College will celebrate Commencement on Saturday, May 20 at 2 pm in its
Fieldhouse. Commencement 2006 marks the 86th such conferring of four-year
degrees in Calvin's 130-year history.

This year's ceremony will feature a graduating class of approximately 900
students, women and men representing 37 states and 22 countries. Calvin awarded
its first bachelor's degrees in 1921 to a senior class of eight men.

The 2006 Commencement speaker will be former Calvin and Yale professor
Nicholas Wolterstorff.

Calvin's 2006 Commencement Ceremony also will be marked by the presentation of
Calvin's highest alumni honor -- the Distinguished Alumni Award -- to Gerald
Gabrielse, a 1973 Calvin graduate who is the George Vasmer Leverett professor
of physics at Harvard University, and an internationally known atomic
physicist, and Charles Spoelhof, a 1951 Calvin graduate and a retired engineer
from the Eastman Kodak Company who during the height of the Cold War was part
of a small group of experts that helped develop the highly sophisticated camera
technology used in spy satellites, and later served on the blue ribbon
commission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope.

And a number of Calvin professors, plus two administrators, will mark their
final Commencements as they move from Calvin into retirement. On the
administrative side, Joy De Boer Anema is leaving Calvin after a long career in
student life and the registrar's office, while Barbara Omolade is leaving a
post as dean for multicultural affairs.

On the faculty side Barbara Carvill, Robert De Vries, George Monsma, Jr.,
Arden Post, Yvonne Van Ee, Ronald Wells and Charles Young III are retiring.
Those seven retirees have a combined 200 years of service to Calvin, led by
37-year tenures for Monsma and Wells, followed closely by 35 years for DeVries
and 29 for Carvill.

Commencement weekend actually begins on Thursday, May 18 with the department
of nursing pinning ceremony from 8 pm to 9 pm in the Fine Arts Center.

Rehearsal happens on Friday, May 19 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm in the Calvin
Fieldhouse followed by a 5 pm worship service for grads and their families in
the Calvin Chapel and then a 5:30 to 7 pm cookout on the Commons lawn.
  
Other events on Friday, May 19 include a 2006 bachelor of arts exhibition and
reception in the college art gallery, a reception for international graduates
and their parents in the Prince Conference Center and a teacher commissioning
ceremony in the Fine Arts Center Auditorium.

Commencement day begins on Saturday, May 20 with the senior brunch from 10 to
11:45 am in the Commons Dining Hall followed by Commencement at 2 pm in the
Calvin Fieldhouse and then various department receptions at 3:30 pm on the
Commons Lawn.

Interestingly several changes enacted last year by necessity, when the
Commencement speaker was U.S. President George W. Bush, have carried over to
this year, including the 2 pm start time for Commencement, the Friday rehearsal
and a later Saturday senior breakfast (now called brunch).

Commencement committee co-chair Darlene Meyering says last year the committee
polled members of the community, including graduates, to glean the reactions to
the earlier start time for the ceremony and there was an overwhelmingly
positive response. In addition feedback to the Friday rehearsal and a later
start to senior breakfast was also positive.

For all the details see http://www.calvin.edu/commencement/

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Received on Thu May 11 12:14:46 2006