USM COMMENCEMENT NEWS ADVISORY - 2004
May 14, 2004
To help you plan coverage of USM's 124th Commencement, here
is the outline of the ceremony.
TIME/PLACE:
9 a.m. to 12 noon, this Saturday, May 15, Cumberland County
Civic Center, Portland. Approximately 1,000 of 1,546 graduates
in attendance; 7,500 spectators.
CEREMONY SCHEDULE:
8:15 Graduates line up.
9:00 Ceremony begins.
9:30 Student commencement address, Sandra Rivard (text available).
9:45 Distinguished Achievement Award to artist Ruth Lepper
Gardner.
10:00 Keynote address, CEO of Interface, Inc., Ray Anderson
(text available).
10:20 Presentation of diplomas to individual graduates. 12
noon Ceremony ends.
AWARD RECIPIENTS:
Distinguished Achievement Award for contributions to the arts
and public service to 98-year-old artist/cartographer Ruth
Lepper Gardner of Southport, Maine.
Honorary degree to CEO of Interface, Inc., Ray Anderson,
who has earned a worldwide reputation for environmentally
sustainable business practices. Guilford of Maine, a manufacturer
of commercial fabrics with headquarters in the Piscataquis
County town of Guilford, is part of the Interface Fabric Group.
INTERESTING GRADS:
Richard Whitaker earned a D.V.M. from the University of Georgia
in 1979, and has been practicing veterinary medicine in Maine
since 1987. A large animal vet, he owns a practice specializing
in embryo transfer in cattle, and has ownership interest in
a small animal practice in Turner. Realizing that he was a
skilled vet, but less skilled in managing his businesses,
he turned to USMÕs School of Business for his M.B.A. degree
because it was "local, accredited, and user-friendly
for people who have full-time jobs." He is marching today
because his six-year-old daughter will be in the audience.
Ruth Thomas, age 76, of Port Clyde, Maine, graduated from
Maine Central Institute (MCI) in Pittsfield, in 1946 and dreamed
of earning an art degree. Lack of money for tuition, marriage,
and a family of five postponed Thomas' dreams for 58 years.
On Saturday, May 15, she will receive her bachelor of fine
arts degree. Thomas rented an apartment in Gorham for three
years while she earned her degree with a double concentration
in drawing and painting.
A degree will be awarded posthumously to Christopher D. Gelineau,
the Maine Army National Guardsman who was killed April 20
when the convoy he was escorting was ambushed near Mosul,
Iraq. Gelineau was a senior information technology communication
major in USM's School of Applied Science, Engineering and
Technology. He was one semester short of graduating. USM Registrar
Steve Rand will read GelineauÕs name during the presentation
of degrees. His mother, Victoria Chicoine, and his wife, Lavinia
Onitiu-Gelineau, who is graduating today, will accept the
degree. No remarks are planned.
The ceremony will open when 26 members of the class of 1954
enter the Cumberland County Civic Center to the music of a
march, "Processional for Spring," composed by Robert
Ek, of Brockton, Mass., a member of the class of 1967. Ek
is a 1957 graduate of Deering High School, Portland. Ek won
a competition, open to all USM alumni and students, to find
a march to be played as the 50-year class processes into the
ceremony.
FOR HELP ARRANGING COVERAGE:
Bob Caswell and Judie O'Malley of USM Office of Public Affairs
at 780-4200. They can be reached at home, 839-2026 (Caswell);
839-6402 (OÕMalley). During the ceremony, call 939-2377.
>more news releases
|
