Mikulski To Give Keynote Address At University's 119th Commencement A record number of graduates will join the university's 85,000-strong alumni body with the conferral of degrees at ceremonies next week. The university-wide commencement ceremony, marking the end of the university's 119th academic year, starts at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 25. The ceremony will be held under a tent at the traditional site, Keyser Quadrangle on the Homewood campus in Baltimore. The main speaker, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., is a longtime friend of the university with a strong interest in both education issues and scientific research. But she has a more personal interest in this year's commencement: she has both a niece and a nephew in the graduating class. Sen. Mikulski is one of five people who will receive the honorary degree of doctor of humane letters before the conferral of the earned degrees on the graduating class. Another is Queen Sirikit of Thailand, who is being honored for her leadership in humanitarian work, especially among the poor farmers in her country. She will be the first member of a reigning royal family to be awarded an honorary degree from Hopkins since 1976. The other honorary degree recipients are Nightline anchor Ted Koppel, who also will speak later that day to the Homewood senior class; Chung Ju Yung, founder of Hyundai Business Group; and Lucile P. Leone, former assistant surgeon general and first chief nurse of the U.S. Public Health Service. Though all degrees are conferred at the university commencement ceremony, only doctoral recipients collect their diplomas at that time. Individual academic divisions will hold separate ceremonies to distribute other diplomas--as well as various awards--to their graduates. (See sidebar information below.) Though the tally will be in flux almost to the moment the traditional academic procession begins, the number of new degrees--from associate's through doctorates--is expected to be something on the order of 4,389, more than 7 percent more than last year. A majority of those degrees--more than 2,800--are master's degrees. Of those, about 1,800--about 41 percent of this year's total graduating class--have been earned from the university's rapidly growing part-time programs for adult, non-traditional students. This year's cadre of bachelor's degree recipients--from Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Nursing, Peabody and Continuing Studies--numbers about 1,068, about 150 fewer than last year. ************************ Academic Divisions Plan Commencement Events ************************ ----------------------------------------------------------------- ROTC Commissioning Ceremony ----------------------------------------------------------------- 10 a.m., May 24, Shriver Hall, Homewood campus, Baltimore. Speaker: Maj. Gen. Charles C. Cannon Jr., vice director, logistics, J-4, Pentagon. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering (master's and doctoral degree recipients) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 7 p.m., May 24, Keyser Quadrangle, Homewood campus, Baltimore. Speaker: Merrill Skolnik, superintendent, Radar Division, United States Naval Research Laboratory. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- University-wide Commencement Ceremony (all degree recipients, all divisions) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 9:30 a.m., May 25, Keyser Quadrangle, Homewood campus, Baltimore. Speaker: Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- School of Arts and Sciences (master's degree recipients) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 12:30 p.m., May 25, Shriver Hall, Homewood campus, Baltimore. Speaker: John T. Tierney, professor of political science, Boston College; fellow of the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- School of Hygiene and Public Health ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1:30 p.m., May 25, Turner Auditorium, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore. Speaker: George W. Comstock, professor of epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering (full-time bachelor's degree recipients): ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2:30 p.m., May 25, Keyser Quadrangle, Homewood campus, Baltimore. Speaker: Ted Koppel, managing editor and anchor, ABC News "Nightline." ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2:30 p.m., May 25, Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St., N.W., Washington, D.C. Speaker: James A. Baker III, former secretary of state. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- School of Medicine ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3 p.m., May 25, Kraushaar Auditorium, Goucher College, Towson, Md. Speaker: Abraham Verghese, professor of medicine and chief of infectious diseases and geriatrics, Texas Tech University. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- School of Nursing ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4 p.m., May 25, Turner Auditorium, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore. Speaker: Louise Wilmot, deputy director of world headquarters, Catholic Relief Services. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- School of Continuing Studies ----------------------------------------------------------------- 7:30 p.m., May 25, Keyser Quadrangle, Homewood campus, Baltimore. Speaker: James T. Brady, secretary, Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Peabody Conservatory ----------------------------------------------------------------- 8 p.m., May 25, Miriam Friedberg Concert Hall, the Peabody Institute, 1 E. Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore. Speakers: Hugo Weisgall, composer; and Melvin Steinberg, former Maryland lieutenant governor. -----------------------------------------------------------------