President Bill Chace will preside at the 90-minute ceremony, which will take place on the quadrangle for approximately 2,957 graduating students and their families. University Chaplain Susan Henry-Crowe will deliver the invocation.
At 8:30 a.m., the academic procession, under the direction of chief marshal John Manning, professor of physiology, will be led across the quad by the kilt-clad Atlanta Pipe Band. The pipe ensemble, dressed in full Scottish Highland attire, will march to Emory and Old St. Andrews March, written by Emory alumnus Henry D. Frantz Jr. in honor of Emory's sister university, the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
Members of the procession will be dressed in the academic regalia of caps, gowns and hoods adopted by the Class of 1902. Depending on their field of study, the hoods of the graduates will be scarlet, gold, purple, lemon, sapphire, apricot, lilac, white, green and dark blue.
Honorary degrees will be conferred upon seven individuals in recognition of outstanding contributions to their respective fields. Honorary degree recipients, in addition to Gates, who will receive a doctor of letters degree, include: Henry Aaron, baseball and civil rights hero, doctor of laws; W. Maxwell Cowan, medical scientist and educator, doctor of science; Paul Erdos, mathematician, doctor of science; Alex Gross, teacher and humanist, doctor of letters; Maxcy Reddick Hall, journalist, author and mentor, doctor of letters; and Grace Crum Rollins, philanthropist, doctor of humane letters.
The Thomas Jefferson Award, the University's premier award for a faculty member or administrator for significant service to the institution, and the Marion Luther Brittain Award, the most prestigious student award for service to the Uni-versity, also will be presented.
At 11 a.m., in most cases, students will report to various locations on campus to receive diplomas from their individual schools.
The commencement exercises for Oxford College will be held on Saturday, May 6, at 10 a.m. President Chace will deliver the address. The Eady Sophomore Service award will be presented during the ceremony.
-- Joyce Bell