NEWS FROM BOSTON UNIVERSITY
For Release 12 noon Friday, May 5, 2000
Contact: Kevin Carleton 617/353-3669 [email protected]
AUTHOR TOM WOLFE TO SPEAK AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY COMMENCEMENT SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2000
(Boston, Mass.) - Best-selling author Tom Wolfe will deliver the address at Boston University's 127th commencement exercises Sunday, May 21, at 11 a.m. President Jon Westling announced the speaker this morning during the annual senior brunch, held on campus in the George Sherman Union.
Westling also announced that the annual baccalaureate sermon will be delivered by Dr. Ruth Simmons, president of Smith College, during a 9 a.m. service at Marsh Chapel.
Wolfe and Simmons will receive honorary degrees, along with actress and alumna Olympia Dukakis, Boston developer Norman Leventhal, and Chelsea City Manager Guy Santagate.
Wolfe has been a leader in American letters for more than 30 years, from such early works as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, in 1968, to The Right Stuff (1979), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987), and A Man in Full (1998). He has been a writer and editor for a number of magazines, including Esquire, Harper's Magazine, and New York. He began his career as a reporter for the Springfield Union and later worked for the Washington Post and the New York Herald Tribune.
"The range and precision of Tom Wolfe's writing on American life makes it a privilege for the University to bestow on him it's highest honor," said Westling in making the announcement. "He is a man most deserving of this recognition of his outstanding contributions to American letters."
For the second time, the entire commencement ceremony will be webcast, enabling family members of graduates, alumni, and others from around the world to view the ceremony as it happens. To view the ceremony, visit the Boston University Commencement Web site at http://www.bu.edu/commencement.
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