Bowdoin College to Hold 192nd Commencement May 24

Story posted May 15, 1997


BRUNSWICK, Maine -- Members of the Bowdoin College Class of 1997 will receive bachelor of arts degrees when Maine's oldest college holds its 192nd commencement on Saturday, May 24, at 10:00 a.m.

President Robert H. Edwards will award approximately 395 degrees during the graduation exercises on the terrace of the Walker Art Building. In case of rain, the ceremonies will be held in Farley Field House. The public is welcome, space permitting.

Maine Commissioner of Education J. Duke Albanese (a member of the Bowdoin Class of 1971) will present greetings from the State of Maine. The invocation will be delivered by The Reverend Holly Lyman Antolini of Saint Brendan-the-Navigator Church in Stonington.

Bowdoin will award honorary degrees to Rosalyne S. Bernstein, of Portland, Maine, an attorney and civic leader, the first woman to serve on the Bowdoin College Board of Overseers, and the first woman to serve as a Bowdoin trustee; Paul P. Brountas '54, of Weston, Mass., a senior partner in the Boston law firm of Hale and Dorr and one of the nation's leading high technology lawyers; James M. McPherson, of Princeton, N.J., a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author, and George Henry Davis '86 Professor of American History at Princeton University; and Abelardo Morell, Jr. '77 of Brookline, Mass.; an internationally recognized photographer and professor of photography at the Massachusetts College of Art.

In keeping with a Bowdoin tradition dating to 1806, graduating seniors will deliver the commencement speeches. Past student speakers have included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1825), House Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed (1860), U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harold H. Burton (1909), and researcher Alfred C. Kinsey (1916). This year, Calif Xuan Tran, of Houston, Texas., will deliver a speech titled A Small College in Maine, while Julie T. Johnson, of Kansas City, Mo., will deliver a speech titled Only Strong Individuals Can Build a Strong Community. Sara P. Hammond, of Berlin, Md., is the alternate speaker.

The commencement exercises will be the highlight of two days of receptions, open houses and other activities.

Friday, May 23:

  • Special Collections and Archives Open House from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library

  • Senior musicians will perform at 10:15 a.m. in the Museum of Art

  • Phi Beta Kappa will meet at 10:00 a.m. in Main Lounge and Lancaster Lounge, Moulton Union

  • Bowdoin Bookstore Commencement Sale from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Smith Union

  • Africana Studies will hold an open house from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Russwurm African-American Center located at 6-8 College Street.

  • The Women's Resource Center, located at 24 College Street, will hold an open house from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

  • Academic Department Open Houses for students, parents, and guests from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.

  • A student art show will be held from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. in the Visual Arts Center

  • Paul P. Brountas, of Weston, Mass., senior partner in the Boston law firm of Hale and Dorr, will deliver an address titled How Can I Help?, at the Baccalaureate Service in the First Parish Church, Brunswick, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Bowdoin graduating senior Herlande Rosemond, of Pt. Charlotte, Fla., will deliver a speech titled Titles and Testimonies. Awards to three students will also be announced during the service.

  • President Robert H. Edwards and Blythe Bickel Edwards will host the President's Reception for alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and guests on the lawn of the Cleaveland House, 75 Federal Street, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.

  • A campus semi-formal lobster bake for graduating seniors and their families, faculty, and staff will be held in two seatings from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. under a tent behind Farley Field House.

Saturday, May 24:

  • Graduation ceremonies will begin at 9:20 a.m. with the formation of the academic procession. The student marshal will be Hiram Hamilton '97 of Edina, Minn. The commencement exercises will be followed at noon by the Commencement Buffet for members of the Class of 1997 and their families, faculty, and staff at Pickard Field behind Farley Field House.

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