Commencement 1997: An Overview

Brown University to hold 229th Commencement Monday, May 26, 1997

Chief Marshal Charles Watts '47 will lead more than 6,000 people down College Hill on Monday, May 26, forming one of the nation's largest and most colorful academic pageants. The Commencement procession and 229th academic exercises - Vartan Gregorian's ninth and final Commencement as president - cap a four-day Commencement and Reunion Weekend at Brown. (A schedule of events is attached.)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- More than 6,000 graduates, alumni, faculty, parent educators and University guests will march down College Hill on Monday morning, May 26, 1997. 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 229th Commencement exercises.

The ceremonial Van Wickle Gates, which opened inward to admit the Class of 1997 four years ago, will swing outward for the graduates' symbolic march into the world beyond campus. This year the gates will also swing outward for Vartan Gregorian, Brown's 16th president, who will be presiding at his ninth and final Commencement. Gregorian will become president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York in July.

Chief marshal for the procession, one of the largest and most colorful academic pageants in the nation, will be Charles Henry Watts II '47, former president of Bucknell University, now a business and educational consultant in Boston.

By approximately 11:15, more than 20,000 people will have found their way to The College Green for the ritual conferral of degrees by the president and chancellor. Three separate convocations will precede the University ceremony:

• 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 over his first Commencement exercises. (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.

In all, Gregorian will deliver formal Latin salutations to more than 1,400 baccalaureate candidates, nearly 400 candidates for advanced degrees and 10 recipients of honorary degrees. Flags from more than 50 nations, representing the homelands of the Class of 1997, will be flown during the University ceremony. The University provides 16,000 folding chairs for graduates and their guests, but Commencement is usually a standing-room-only event.

Because the baccalaureate graduating class fills the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church to capacity, parents and friends of the graduates traditionally gather on The College Green to listen to a broadcast of the undergraduate ceremony. For the second year, the University will provide a video simulcast on a 14-by-22-foot "Jumbotron" video screen. The video unit will arrive on The College Green in time to provide parents and guests with simulcasts of several Commencement Weekend events, including the Baccalaureate Service on Sunday afternoon. The large 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 "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:

• Bill Moyers, the author and broadcast journalist, will present this year's baccalaureate address at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 25, in the First Baptist Meeting House.
  
  
• Dr. Samuel Lin, rear admiral and assistant surgeon general (retired), will address the M.D. graduating class during ceremonies beginning at 8:45 Monday morning in the First Unitarian Church.
  
  
• Dr. Thomas A. Parrino, professor of medicine at Brown, has been chosen by the M.D. graduating class as faculty speaker for the medical school convocation in the First Unitarian Church.
  
  
• Raymond Moreno, a member of the M.D. Class of 1997, has been chosen by fellow students to deliver a Commencement address in the First Unitarian Church.
• James Pomerantz, provost of Brown University, will address candidates for advanced degrees during the Graduate School's convocation on Lincoln Field, beginning at 9:15 Monday morning.
  
  
• Justin Carroll, a creative writing concentrator from West Chester, Pa., and Erica Seidel, an international relations concentrator from Harwich, Mass., have been chosen by their classmates as student orators for the College convocation in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America, beginning at 10 a.m. Monday.

Departmental ceremonies

Receiving an undergraduate degree at Brown involves a three-step process. First, during ceremonies at the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America, President Gregorian 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, Gregorian will confer all the degrees symbolically by presenting the degree to one representative of each degree. He will also exhort the graduates in Latin. Third, individual graduates will receive their 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.

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, alumnae, friends and family will return to the campus to participate in several days of celebration which surround Commencement. Further information on reunion activities is available from the Commencement/Reunion hotline: 401/863-7000.

The Commencement/Reunion Schedule

For directions to the Brown University campus, dial 401/863-1600.

Friday, May 23

• The Brown Bear Buffet, available from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Sharpe Refectory, gives degree candidates and their families a chance to join alumni and the Brown bear for a buffet dinner.
  
  
• "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 on campus during the weekend.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Senior Sing, a traditional feature at the Campus Dance, takes place at midnight on the steps of Sayles Hall.
  
  
• "Blues in the Night," a musical revue from the '30s and '40s, will be presented at 8 p.m. in Leeds Theatre. Contact the box office for details: 401/863-2838.

Saturday, May 24

• Commencement Forums, presentations on a variety of topics by internationally respected speakers, take place all day, from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Nineteen forums are scheduled, all open without charge to campus guests and the general public on a first-come, first-served basis.
  
  
• Alumni field day will be held from noon until 4 p.m. in the Wendell R. Erickson Athletic Complex (Aldrich-Dexter Field).
  
  
• "Blues in the Night," will be performed at 8 p.m. (see listing for Friday, May 23).
  
  
• The annual Pops Concert, featuring the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra in concert with Tony Award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch, will take place from 9 to 11 p.m. on The College Green.

Sunday, May 25

• A Ceremony of Remembrance: Brown Honors Its Veterans" - President Gregorian and other officials will unveil a new memorial honoring the University's war dead from World War II, Korea and Vietnam at 9:30 a.m. near Soldiers Arch, Thayer Street at Manning Walkway. The U.S. Navy Band will perform.
  
  
• "An Hour with the President," a long-standing Commencement tradition, features informal remarks by President Vartan Gregorian, with questions from alumni and parents. It begins at 10 a.m. in Lincoln Field.
  
  
• University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson will officiate at the All Class Memorial Service to celebrate the lives of deceased classmates, 11:15 a.m. in Sayles Hall.
  
  
• José Ramos Horta, one of two 1996 Nobel Peace laureates from East Timor, will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture at 11:30 Sunday morning in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The lecture will be simulcast to The College Green.
  
  
• "The Renaissance City Alumni Waterfront Festival," new at Commencement/Reunion Weekend this year, will allow alumni and Commencement guests of the University to explore Waterplace Park and the new Providence waterfront. Special music and activities are planned from 1 until 5 p.m. Open to the public.
  
  
• The 1997 Baccalaureate Service begins at about 1 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. Bill Moyers will deliver the baccalaureate address; family and friends may listen to the address on The College Green.
  
  
• Richard Holbrooke '62, the U.S. diplomat who played a pivotal role in the Dayton Peace Accords for resolving the conflict in Bosnia, will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The lecture will be simulcast to The College Green.
  
  
• "Blues in the Night" will be performed at 4 p.m. (see listing for Friday, May 23).
  
  
• The Brown University Wind Symphony will perform in Sayles Hall at 8 p.m.
  
  
• Second Annual Reunion Organ Concert, presented by University Organist Mark Steinbach, will begin at 9 p.m. in Sayles Hall.

Monday, May 26

• The 1997 Commencement Procession will be led this year by Chief Marshal Charles Watts '47. It will be more than a mile long, will involve more than 6,000 people, and will begin forming on The College Green at 7:30 a.m.
  
  
• The Medical School Convocation will begin at 8:45 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.