Athens,
Ga. – The University of Georgia will confer degrees on
about 4,600 students at spring commencement ceremonies May 10.
An estimated 3,500
undergraduates will be eligible to receive bachelor’s degrees at the
undergraduate ceremony at 9:30 a.m. in Sanford Stadium. In the event of rain, the ceremony will
remain in Sanford Stadium. However,
there will be no processional. Students will
report directly to their assigned seats on the field. Each student will be provided a poncho to
wear. Family and friends who will view
the ceremony from stadium seats should be prepared for rain. In case of severe weather
(rain accompanied by high winds, thunder and lightning), the ceremony will be
held in Stegeman Coliseum in two sessions, at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. A decision on moving to the coliseum will be
made by 6:30 a.m. and will be posted on the UGA Web site (http://www.uga.edu).
Exercises for graduate students
will be at 2:30 p.m. in Stegeman Coliseum.
An estimated 1,099 candidates for master’s, doctoral and specialist in
education degrees are expected to be eligible to participate.
Complete details about both
undergraduate and graduate ceremonies are available at http://www.reg.uga.edu/or.nsf/html/commencement.
U.S. Supreme Court Associate
Justice Clarence Thomas will be the speaker for the undergraduate ceremony. A
native of Pinpoint, Ga.,
Thomas was appointed to the nation’s highest court in 1991 by President George
H.W. Bush. He previously served on the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and was chairman of
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The student speaker for the undergraduate
ceremony will be Deep Shah, one of two UGA recipients of the Rhodes Scholarship
this year. Shah, who will graduate with
degrees in biology and international affairs, is a UGA Foundation Fellow and
last year received the Harry Truman Scholarship.
Thirty-five seniors who have
maintained perfect 4.0 grade point averages will be recognized as First Honor
Graduates.
The undergraduate ceremony will
be broadcast live on University Cable Channel 15 and streamed live on the UGA
Web site. The ceremony also will be
broadcast live in the theater of the Tate
Student Center
and in Mahler Auditorium in the Georgia
Center for Continuing Education
Conference Center
and Hotel.
Construction on an addition to
the Tate Center has limited parking there. People
attending the undergraduate ceremony are advised to arrive early and find
parking in other nearby lots. They
should enter Sanford Stadium through gates 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7. For those who
need wheelchair access, the entrance to the stadium will be through gate 6.
The speaker for the graduate
ceremony will be Michael Bunch, senior vice president of Measurement Inc., a
firm that develops tests and assessment programs for state education
departments and other educational organizations. Bunch, who received his
bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from UGA, has worked with Measurement
Inc. for 23 years and is a nationally recognized expert in educational testing
and assessment.
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