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USM's 124th Commencement Takes Place May 15

May 11, 2004

The University of Southern Maine will mark its 124th Commencement at 9 a.m., this Saturday, May 15, in the Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland.

This year's speaker, the founder and CEO of Interface, Inc., Ray Anderson has become one of the nation's leading advocates for sustainability. Under his leadership, Interface has earned a worldwide reputation for environmentally sustainable business practices while diversifying into a company with sales in 110 countries and manufacturing facilities on four continents. Anderson, and his company, have received many awards, including the inaugural Millennium Award from Global Green, the George and Cynthia Mitchell International Prize for Sustainable Development, and was twice named one of the top 100 companies to work for in America by Fortune magazine. Guilford of Maine, a manufacturer of commercial fabrics with headquarters in the Piscataquis County town of Guilford, is part of the Interface Fabric Group.

Anderson's commencement address marks the conclusion of USM's yearlong focus on the issue of environmental sustainability, the theme of the 2003-04 Gloria S. Duclos Convocation. Anderson will be awarded an honorary degree during Saturday's ceremony.

The student commencement speaker, Sandra Hamel Rivard of Brunswick, is a social and behavioral science major at USM's Lewiston-Auburn College. Rivard was convinced by a professor to submit her winning speech. She has been accepted to USM's summer Stonecoast Writers' Conference, is working on a book, and plans to work with AmeriCorps in the coming year.

A Distinguished Achievement Award will be presented to Southport Island's Ruth Lepper Gardner, a Maine artist who, even as she approaches her 99th birthday, continues to attend drawing classes and is an active member of the Boothbay Region Art Foundation. Gardner spent more than 60 years drawing the Maine coast and recently donated several of her maps to USM's Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education.

Also honored at the ceremony with honorary emeriti status are USM retirees John "Jack" M. Sutton Jr. of Yarmouth, professor emeritus of counselor education, and Richard H. Sturgeon of Portland, director emeritus of learning foundations.

The class of 1954 will have 25 members marching Saturday to "The Processional for Spring," composed by USM alumnus Robert Ek ('67) of Brockton, Mass., and played by the Portland Brass Quintet. The class of 1954 raised $1,000 to host, along with the USM Alumni Association and the USM School of Music, a competition for the march that will be heard for the first time Saturday. Ek is a trombonist who plays in a Dixieland jazz band.

It is expected that there will be about 1,000 graduates marching Saturday, including 76-year-old Ruth Thomas of Port Clyde, who will be receiving her B.F.A. in art.

Thomas, who received her bachelor's degree in 1976 from the University of Maine in Augusta, began working toward a B.F.A. in USM's Department of Art at the age of 73. In order to attend classes, the Port Clyde resident rented an apartment in Gorham. She received an Art Discipline Award for academic achievement in printmaking at USM's Student Recognition ceremony in April. She describes her years at USM as a "wonderful experience," where her classes were filled with students who were the ages of her children and grandchildren. Her future plans include enjoying the summer during which she plans to visit friends, work in her garden, and, of course, paint.

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