Commencement 1999: An Overview

Brown University to hold 231st Commencement Monday, May 31, 1999

Chief Marshal Stephen E. Weil '49 will lead more than 6,000 people down College Hill on Monday, May 31, in one of the nation's largest and most colorful academic pageants. The Commencement procession and 231st academic exercises cap a four-day Commencement-Reunion Weekend at Brown.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- More than 6,000 graduates, alumni, faculty, parent educators and University guests will march down College Hill on Monday morning, May 31, 1999. Their mile-long procession, accompanied by an entourage of bagpipers, highland drummers, television cameras and marching bands, will mark the beginning of Brown University's 231st Commencement exercises.

The ceremonial Van Wickle Gates, which opened inward to admit the Class of 1999 four years ago, will swing outward for the graduates' symbolic march into the world beyond Brown. Chief marshal for Monday morning's procession, one of the largest and most colorful academic pageants in the nation, will be Stephen E. Weil '49, senior scholar emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Museum Studies. The procession steps off at 8:30 a.m., led by candidates for medical degrees, then graduate degrees, then bachelor's degrees.

Three separate convocations precede the full University ceremony on The College Green:

• Medical students will gather at 8:45 in the First Unitarian Church for their degree ceremonies and administration of the Physician's Oath by Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Donald J. Marsh, M.D.
  
  
• Graduate students will assemble for open-air ceremonies at 9:15 a.m. on Lincoln Field (behind Sayles Hall), where Dean of the Graduate School and Research Peder Estrup will preside. (In case of rain, the Graduate School's convocation will be held in the Pizzitola Sports Center.)
  
  
• Undergraduates will march to the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America, site of all Brown Commencements since 1775, for the symbolic awarding of the baccalaureate degree, beginning at 10 a.m.

By approximately 11:15, more than 15,000 people will have found their way to The College Green for the University's Commencement exercises and the ritual conferral of degrees by the president and chancellor. In all, President E. Gordon Gee will deliver formal Latin salutations to approximately 1,400 baccalaureate candidates, 400 candidates for advanced degrees and 10 candidates for honorary degrees. Flags from more than 50 nations, representing the homelands of the Class of 1999, will be flown during the University ceremony.

Because the baccalaureate graduating class fills the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church, parents and friends of the graduates traditionally gather on The College Green to listen to a broadcast of the undergraduate ceremony and view the proceedings on a large outdoor video screen. The University provides 12,000 folding chairs for graduates and their guests, but Commencement is usually a standing-room-only event. The screen will be available for parents and guests in Meehan Auditorium in case of rain on Monday.

Speakers

By long tradition, Brown does not invite a single main speaker to deliver a Commencement address, but asks a number of individuals, including students, to contribute remarks at the various Commencement convocations. This year's speakers will include:

• Nobel Peace Prize Laureate John Hume, who will deliver the baccalaureate address at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 30, in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America;
  
  
• Erica M. Dillon '99 and Jasmine M. Waddell '99, who will deliver Senior Orations Monday morning, May 31, in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America;
  
  
• Philip J. DiSaia, M.D., director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of California, Irvine College of Medicine, who will address the M.D. graduating class Monday morning, May 31, in the First Unitarian Church;
  
  
• Edward R. Feller, M.D., director of the Division of Gastroenterology at The Miriam Hospital, who will address the medical graduates;
  
  
• Garey Noritz, a member of the 1999 M.D. graduating class, who has been selected to address his classmates;
  
  
• Andrew D. Jones Jr., a doctoral candidate in the Division of Applied Mathematics, who will address candidates for advanced degrees at the Graduate School Convocation Monday morning, May 31, on Lincoln Field.

Departmental ceremonies

Receiving a bachelor's degree at Brown is a three-step process. First, during ceremonies at the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America, President Gee will present candidates for the bachelor's degree to members of the Corporation, who will authorize him to confer the degrees. Second, during ceremonies on The College Green, Gee will confer all bachelors degrees symbolically by presenting a diploma to one representative of each degree (A.B., Sc.B, A.B./Sc.B.). Third, graduates will receive their individual diplomas during departmental ceremonies held at various locations on and off campus at the conclusion of the University ceremony, about 12:30 p.m. A listing of sites for these ceremonies is included in the Commencement program, distributed on campus Commencement morning.

Disabilities

Individuals with disabilities who require accommodations for any event during Commencement Weekend should contact the Office of University Events as soon as possible, but no less than 48 hours in advance. Call the Events Office at (401) 863-2474 weekdays from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. This number connects to a line with TTY capabilities, if needed.

Rain plan

If Monday is damp or drizzly, outdoor activities proceed as scheduled. If a full-scale downpour begins, yellow pennants will be flown around campus, indicating that the rain plan is in effect. In that event, Commencement ceremonies scheduled for The College Green will take place at the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America, and the departmental ceremonies will move to rain plan sites listed in the Commencement program. Guests of undergraduates may view a large-screen video simulcast of the ceremonies at Meehan Auditorium.

Reunions

More than 4,000 Brown alumni/ae, friends and family will return to the campus for several days of reunion celebration which surround Commencement. Further information on reunion activities is available from the Reunion hotline: (401) 863-9292.

The Commencement/Reunion Schedule

Information on Commencement events is available from the Commencement hotline: (401) 863-7000.
For directions to the Brown University campus, dial (401) 863-1600.

Friday, May 28

• "Bring a Book To Brown" is a public service project in which returning alumni, parents and guests of the University bring new children's books, appropriate for grades 3 through 6. Books will be collected at Reunion registration centers and throughout the weekend at Maddock Alumni Center.
  
  
• "The Belle of Amherst," a one-woman play that explores the life of Emily Dickinson, will be presented in Leeds Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Call (401) 863-2838 for ticket information.
  
  
• Campus Dance, from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. on The College Green, will feature music by the Duke Belaire Orchestra. Student bands will perform on Lincoln Field, with soothing jazz near Carrie Tower.
  
  
• Senior Sing, a traditional feature at the Campus Dance, takes place at midnight on the steps of Sayles Hall.

Saturday, May 29

• Commencement Forums, presentations on a variety of topics by internationally respected speakers, take place all day, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Nearly 20 forums are scheduled, all open without charge to campus guests and the general public on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information: (401) 863-2474.
  
  
• The John Nicholas Brown Center will hold an open house from 10 a.m. until noon, with a tour of the Nightingale-Brown House, 357 Benefit St.
  
  
• Sen. John Glenn will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture at 11:45 a.m. on The College Green (Rain: Salomon Center for Teaching).
  
  
• The 17th annual Carl and Dorothy O. Jagolinzer Memorial Recital, featuring solo and ensemble musical performances by graduating seniors, begins at 3 p.m. in Grant Recital Hall.
  
  
• The Class of 1999 College Honors Convocation begins at 4:30 p.m. in Lincoln Field (rain site: Pizzitola Memorial Sports Center). President Gee and Dean of the College Nancy Dunbar will offer remarks, and Robert Scholes, professor of modern culture and media, will deliver the keynote address.
  
  
• Alumni field day will be held from noon until 4 p.m. in the Wendell R. Erickson Athletic Complex (Aldrich-Dexter Field), featuring music, games and amusements. (Rain: Olney-Margolies Athletic Center.)
  
  
• "The Belle of Amherst," a one-woman play that explores the life of Emily Dickinson, will be presented in Leeds Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Call (401) 863-2838 for ticket information.
  
  
• The 35th annual Commencement Pops Concert, featuring two-time Tony Award winner James Naughton, Class of 1967, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, will take place from 9 p.m. to midnight on The College Green.

Sunday, May 30

• "An Hour with the President," a long-standing Commencement tradition, features informal remarks by President Gee, with questions from alumni and parents. It begins at 10 a.m. in Lincoln Field (Rain: Sharpe Refectory).
  
  
• University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson will officiate at the All Class Memorial Service to celebrate the lives of deceased classmates, 11 a.m. in Sayles Hall.
  
  
• Queen Noor of Jordan will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture as part of the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies. The lecture begins at 11:30 on The College Green (Rain: Salomon Center for Teaching).
  
  
• The 1999 Baccalaureate Service begins at about 1:15 p.m. in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America. The service is preceded by an academic procession at 12:45 p.m. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate John Hume will deliver the baccalaureate address; family and friends may listen on The College Green.
  
  
• Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
  
  
• "The Belle of Amherst," a one-woman play that explores the life of Emily Dickinson, will be presented in Leeds Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Call (401) 863-2838 for ticket information.
  
  
• The Brown University Chorus (L. Frederick Jodry, director) will present a Commencement Benefit Concert at 8 p.m. in Sayles Hall. Proceeds will help support the Chorus' Italy tour.
  
  
• From dusk until midnight, the Brown Alumni Association will sponsor a production of "WaterFire," the dramatic multimedia fire installation by Barnaby Evans '75 in downtown Providence.

Monday, May 31

• The 1999 Commencement Procession will be led this year by Chief Marshal Stephen E. Weil '49. It will be more than a mile long, will involve more than 6,000 people, and will step off at 8:30 a.m.
  
  
• The Medical School Convocation will begin at 8:45 a.m. in the First Unitarian Church.
  
  
• The Graduate School Convocation will begin at 9:15 a.m. in Lincoln Field.
  
  
• The Undergraduate Ceremony begins at 10 a.m. in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America, site of Brown Commencements since 1775.
  
  
• The University ceremony will begin at approximately 11:15 a.m. on The College Green.
  
  
• Graduating seniors receive their diplomas at departmental ceremonies immediately following the academic exercises on The College Green.