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May 29, 2001

Sunshine, speakers herald Class of 2001

By Michael Terrazas mterraz@emory.edu

 

Another year, another sea of mortarboards and another spectacular May day, as nearly 3,300 anxious graduates and their families and friends packed the Quadrangle May 14 for the University’s 156th Commencement exercises.

At precisely 8 a.m.—regular announcements over the PA system counted down the minutes before the ceremony began—the kilt-clad Atlanta Pipe Band squeezed its bagpipes and launched into the “Emory and Old St. Andrews March,” written by Henry Frantz ’71C, ’74L in honor of Emory’s sister University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Chief Marshal Ray DuVarney led the procession of faculty and administrators through the gathered throng to the platform in front of Pitts Library.

One thing was certain for this latest of Emory Commence-ments: It did not lack for speakers. After Susan Henry-Crowe, dean of the Chapel and Religious Life, delivered the invocation, Class of 2001 speaker Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, held forth for nearly 10 minutes. She spoke of her fight last year in British court against an accusation of libel from Holocaust denier David Irving and of the lessons she learned from the battle—and her victory.

Later, in conjunction with the appropriate school’s conferrence of their degrees, each of Emory’s four 2001 honorary degree recipients—Elias Chacour, Bradley Currey, Richard Goldstone and Charlayne Hunter-Gault—delivered brief remarks.

But sterling speakers befit a sterling class, and the Class of 2001 boasts sparkling credentials to go along with its diverse demographics. President Bill Chace ran down the litany of statistics: 55 percent women to 45 percent men, 47 of 50 U.S. states represented; 193 international students from 53 countries; 31 graduates over 50 years of age; a 19-year-old bachelor’s candidate and a 56-year-old bachelor’s recipients. The oldest member of the Class of 2001 is 66-year-old master’s of divinity recipient Sharon Hibbert from the School of Theology.

The University also honored individual achievement in the main ceremony: Hetal Doshi, a graduating Emory College senior, took home the Marion Luther Brittain Service Award, Emory’s most prestigious student honor. Marshall Duke, C.H. Candler Professor of Personality and Psychopathology, received the Thomas Jefferson Award for significant service through personal activities, influence and leadership; and Art Kellermann, chair of emergency medicine and director of the Center for Injury Control, was awarded the University Scholar/Teacher Award, presented on behalf of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

 

Back to Emory Report May 29, 2001