The Johns Hopkins Gazette: May 24, 1999
May 24, 1999
VOL. 28, NO. 36

  

Commencement Ceremonies This Week

More than 5,000 degrees will be conferred at close of 123rd academic year

Johns Hopkins Gazette Online Edition

The sounds of the Chesapeake Brass Quintet will mix with the cheers and applause of the thousands come to witness the end of an academic journey when the university celebrates the close of its 123rd academic year on Thursday, May 27.

The university-wide ceremony, to be held at 9:30 a.m. at the Keyser Quadrangle on the Homewood campus, will feature the conferring of more than 5,000 degrees; recognize the new members of the Society of Scholars, who will be inducted on May 26; and bestow honorary degrees upon Mary Ellen Avery, Clyde R. Shallenberger, Finn M.W. Caspersen, James A. Van Allen and A. James Clark (see Gazette story, this issue).

University president William R. Brody will continue his tradition of speaking at the ceremony.

Each of the university's eight academic divisions will hold separate diploma award ceremonies, featuring a keynote speaker selected by representatives of each school. Ceremonies will also include the announcement of awards that recognize the contributions and achievements of students, staff and faculty.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain will speak at the undergraduate ceremony for the schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering at 2:30 p.m. on May 27, Keyser Quadrangle, Homewood. McCain, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and a celebrated Vietnam War pilot, spent five years as a prisoner of war in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton," two of them in solitary confinement, before his release in 1973.

McCain was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 1982 and was later re-elected for a second term. In 1986, McCain decided to run for, and eventually won, the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retiring Barry Goldwater. McCain, an advocate of smaller government and lower taxes, is now serving in his third term.

The School of Arts and Sciences master's diploma award ceremony, at 6:30 p.m. on May 27, Shriver Hall, will feature speaker William A. Haseltine, chairman and chief executive officer of Human Genome Sciences Inc., a Rockville, Md., company focused on the discovery of human and microbial genes for the prevention, detection, treatment and cure of disease.

Haseltine, who holds a doctorate in biophysics from Harvard, was a professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. He is editor in chief of the Journal of AIDS and is on the editorial boards of many other scientific journals. He has been awarded more than 50 patents for his discoveries. Since 1981, Haseltine has founded seven companies, each in a different area of medicine.

The gathered graduates at the School of Engineering's master's diploma ceremony will listen to the words of Jane T. Nishida, Maryland's secretary of the environment. The ceremony will be at 7 p.m., May 26, Keyser Quadrangle, Homewood.

Nishida is responsible for all aspects of pollution prevention, environmental regulation and environmental enforcement in the state. Programs under her department's control include the management of hazardous and solid waste, air quality control, regulation of waste-water discharges and wetlands protection.

Nishida serves on Governor Parris N. Glendening's cabinet and is a member of his subcabinets on the Chesapeake Bay and Smart Growth. Prior to becoming secretary, Nishida was the Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Former university president Steven Muller will be the speaker at the School of Continuing Studies undergraduate and graduate diploma award ceremony at 7:30 p.m., May 27, Keyser Quadrangle, Homewood.

The university's 10th president, Muller served from 1972 to 1990. Under his guidance the university re-established the engineering and nursing schools; assumed responsibility for the Peabody Conservatory; completed the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy and the Space Telescope Science Institute; and created academic centers in many locations, including Nanjing, China. Muller was named president emeritus upon his retirement.

The School of Medicine diploma ceremony speaker will be George Lundberg, editor in chief of Medscape, a leading site for health and medical information on the Internet.

From 1982 to 1999 Lundberg served as editor in chief of scientific information and multimedia at the American Medical Association, where he was responsible for the organization's 39 medical journals, American Medical News and various Internet products. Lundberg, a frequent radio and television guest and host, is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and holds academic appointments as a professor at Northwestern and Harvard.

The ceremony will be at 2:30 p.m., May 27, at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St.

Antonia Coello Novello, former surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service, will speak at the School of Public Health's diploma ceremony at 7:30 p.m., May 26, Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Novello was sworn into her post in 1990 and became the first woman and the first Hispanic to hold the position. As surgeon general Novello advised on public health matters such as smoking, AIDS, nutrition and environmental health hazards. Novello is currently a visiting professor in the school's Department of Health Policy and special director for community health policy.

Speaking to the graduates of the School of Nursing will be Patricia A. Grady, director of the National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health. Grady joined NIH in 1988 at the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke, where she later became deputy and acting director. The ceremony will take place at 4 p.m., May 27, Turner Auditorium.

Grady is a member of several scientific organizations, including the Society of Neuroscience, the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 1996.

Sopranist Eileen Farrell will address the Peabody graduates. She also will be presented with the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America. The ceremony will be at 8 p.m., May 27, Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall.

Farrell, who has sung on the world's greatest concert stages, first became known in 1942, when radio listeners tuned into the series of programs called Eileen Farrell Sings, on the CBS radio network. A versatile and gifted vocalist, Farrell has performed and recorded songs ranging in style from opera and pop to jazz and blues.

Philanthropist and businessman George Soros will be the speaker at the School of Advanced International Studies diploma award ceremony, which will be held at 3 p.m., May 27, at Constitution Hall,18th and D streets, Washington. A native of Budapest, Soros moved in 1956 to the United States, where he began to amass a large fortune through an international investment fund he both founded and managed.

Soros currently serves as chairman of Soros Fund Management L.L.C., a private investment management firm. He also funds in 31 countries a network of foundations that are dedicated to building and maintaining the infrastructure and institutions of what he calls an "open society." Soros also has founded other institutions such as the Central European University and the International Science Foundation.

About the Graduates

Expected number of graduates 1,085  
   Arts & Sciences 572  
   Continuing Studies 70  
   Engineering 209  
   Nursing 177  
   Peabody 57  
Expected number of master's degree candidates 3,262  
   School of Advanced
   Int'l Studies
337  
   School of Arts
   and Sciences
445  
   Continuing Studies 1,062  
   School of Engineering 753  
   School of Medicine 11  
   School of Nursing 72  
   Peabody Conservatory 151 (includes 41 graduate performance diplomas)
   School of Public Health 431  
Expected number of doctoral degree candidates 542  
   School of Advanced
   Int'l Studies
17  
   School of Arts
   and Sciences
122  
   Continuing Studies 2 (D.Ed)
   School of Engineering 47  
   School of Medicine 179 (128, M.D.; 51, Ph.D.)
   School of Nursing 3  
   Peabody Conservatory 27  
   School of Public Health 145  
Expected number of certificates (and equivalent) conferred 158  


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