CONTACT: Huey Freeman (217) 244-0470; [email protected]
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The 128th Commencement of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be held in two ceremonies May 16 (Sunday) at the Assembly Hall, 1800 S. First St., Champaign.
The speaker at both ceremonies will be Rick Kaplan, president of CNN/USA, veteran network news producer and adjunct professor of broadcast journalism at the U. of I.
Kaplan will receive an honorary degree, as will Shozo Sato, who created the first Japan House while serving as a professor of art and design at the U. of I. from 1968 to 1992. Honorary doctorates also will be awarded to three other people.
At the 10:30 a.m. ceremony, candidates in the colleges of Applied Life Studies, Communications, Law, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, the School of Social Work and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science will receive degrees.
Candidates in the colleges of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Commerce and Business Administration, Education, Engineering, and Fine and Applied Arts will receive their degrees at the 2 p.m. ceremony.
Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. for the morning ceremony and at 1 p.m. for the afternoon ceremony. After all students and their guests are seated, remaining seats will be available to the public. All students who have earned bachelor's, master's, doctoral and professional degrees and advanced certificates during the preceding year are honored at the U. of I.'s annual commencement.
Kaplan became president of CNN in August 1997, after 17 years with ABC News and the ABC Television Network. He was the executive director of "World News Tonight With Peter Jennings" from January 1994.
Before producing the evening news program, Kaplan was the executive producer of "PrimeTime Live" for five years. Under his direction, the show covered the Gulf War, 1989 San Francisco Earthquake and Los Angeles Riots. Between 1984 and 1989, Kaplan was the executive producer of "Nightline."
Kaplan, a Chicago native who attended the U. of I. in 1965, won 34 Emmys, four Overseas Press Club Awards and three Peabodys. He began his broadcast career at WBBM-TV, the Chicago CBS affiliate, in 1969. After two years, he joined CBS' national news in New York, and later was a producer for Walter Cronkite.
When Kaplan took over the reins at CNN, he had it written into his contract that he would be free to teach at the U. of I. for one week per semester. He has been sharing his experience with broadcast journalism students in Urbana for two years, and recently was named an adjunct journalism professor.
Biochemist Marianne Grunberg-Manago will receive an honorary doctorate at the 10:30 a.m. ceremony. Sato, scientist Alfred Y. Cho and financial expert Leo Melamed will receive honorary degrees at the 2 p.m. commencement.
Sato began his career at the U. of I. as a visiting artist in the dance department in 1964. Four years later, he created the university's Japanese Arts and Culture Program. From 1968 to 1992, Sato was a professor of art and design at the university. He created a Kabuki theater program at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, where he was an artist-in-residence. Sato has written books on flower arranging, Kabuki and Japanese aesthetics. A production of his play, "Kabuki Medea," won the Hollywood Drama Critics Award in 1985.
Grunberg-Manago, of the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique in Paris, is the first woman elected to the French Academy of Sciences. She was the president of the academy in 1995.
In the 1950s, Grunberg-Manago was a postdoctoral fellow at the U. of I., in the labs of professors I.C. Gunsalus and Severo Ochoa. She studied the genetic code and the mechanism of transferring the code from RNA to protein synthesis. More recently, she has used recombinant DNA techniques to study the organization of genes.
Melamed, chairman emeritus of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, is recognized as the founder of financial futures. While CME chairman, he introduced foreign currency futures in 1972 by launching the International Money Market. Melamed is credited with guiding the Chicago futures industry, which has had a significant impact on the city's economy. He is the chief executive officer of Sakura Dellsher Inc., a multinational financial services corporation.
Cho, director of research at Bell Laboratories, is the father of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), a technique for growing crystals under high-vacuum conditions. This technique is used to make electronic devices such as cellular phones, police radar and fiber-optic communication networks. Cho earned his doctorate from the U. of I. in 1968.
The U. of I. Alumni Association will present an Alumni Achievement Award to Joseph H. Burckhalter and a Distinguished Service Award to Richard J. Faletti at the morning commencement ceremonies.
Burckhalter led the team that invented fluorescein isothiocyanate, a labeling agent widely used in the diagnosis of cancer and infectious diseases. It was used in the discovery of the HIV virus, which causes AIDS. Burckhalter also created Camoquin, a single-dose malaria cure, from Tylenol. The Florida Institute of Technology research professor earned his master's degree in organic chemistry at the U. of I. in 1938. His studies as a student led to the creation of 12 medicines. He received the 1995 American Innovator Award and is a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Faletti, a former U. of I. law professor, has been a generous volunteer and contributor for the university's Krannert Art Museum, Library, College of Law and the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, now under construction.
A founding member of the art museum's board of directors, Faletti has helped the museum with legal work and donations of more than 50 artifacts from his own collection. He and his wife created an endowment for exhibits and educational programs in the Richard and Barbara Faletti Gallery of African Cultures in the Spurlock Museum. He graduated from the College of Commerce and Business Administration in 1947 and from the College of Law in 1948.
Among other planned activities in honor of the graduating class, the U. of I. Symphonic Band will give a free concert for graduates, candidates and their guests at 8 p.m. May 15 (Saturday) in the Great Hall of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana. Tickets are not required.
All graduating students and their guests are invited to a reception hosted by U. of I. President and Mrs. James J. Stukel and Chancellor Michael Aiken from 8:30 to 10 a.m. on May 16 in the gardens of the president's house, 711 W. Florida Ave., Urbana. Academic attire is encouraged.
Additional commencement ceremonies have been scheduled by many individual U. of I. units. All take place on May 16, except as noted:
COLLEGES
o Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences -- for undergraduate degrees, 9:30 a.m., Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; for graduate degrees, 10 a.m., Recital Hall, Smith Memorial Hall, 805 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana.
o Applied Life Studies -- 4 p.m., 100 George Huff Hall, 1206 S. Fourth St., Champaign.
o Commerce and Business Administration departments of accountancy and economics, 12:30 p.m. May 15 (Saturday), 100 George Huff Hall; MBAs and Executive MBAs, 2:30 p.m. May 15 (Saturday), Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; departments of business administration and finance, 4:15 p.m. May 15 (Saturday), 100 George Huff Hall.
o Communications -- 2 p.m., Foellinger Auditorium, 709 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana. o Education -- 10 a.m., 100 George Huff Hall.
o Engineering -- 4:30 p.m., Assembly Hall.
o Law -- 11 a.m. May 15 (Saturday), Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. o Veterinary Medicine -- 1:30 p.m., Tryon Festival Theater, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
SCHOOLS
o Architecture -- 10 a.m., Foellinger Auditorium.
o Art and Design -- 10 a.m., Tryon Festival Theater, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
o Library and Information Science (Graduate School of) -- 1:30 p.m., Recital Hall, Smith Memorial Hall.
o Life Sciences -- 1:30 p.m., 100 George Huff Hall. o Music -- 5:30 p.m., Recital Hall, Smith Memorial Hall.
o Social Work -- 4 p.m., Colwell Playhouse, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
DEPARTMENTS
o Chemical Engineering -- 1:30 p.m., 100 Noyes Laboratory, 505 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana.
o Chemistry and Biochemistry -- 1:30 p.m., Colwell Playhouse, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
o Economics (LAS) and Finance (LAS) -- 11 a.m. May 15 (Saturday), Foellinger Auditorium.
o Humanities I -- 1:30 p.m. May 15 (Saturday), Foellinger Auditorium.
o Humanities II -- 4 p.m. May 15 (Saturday), Foellinger Auditorium. o Landscape Architecture -- 10:30 a.m., Sunken Garden, Allerton Park, Route 2, Monticello; in case of rain, Washington School Gymnasium, 100 W. Jefferson St., Monticello.
o Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science (LAS) -- 4 p.m., Tryon Festival Theater, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. o Physics and Astronomy -- 2 p.m. May 15 (Saturday), 151 Loomis Laboratory of Physics, 1110 W. Green St., Urbana.
o Psychology -- 4 p.m., Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
o Social Sciences -- 1:30 p.m., Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. o Theater -- 10 a.m., Colwell Playhouse, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
o Urban and Regional Planning -- 10 a.m., Levis Faculty Center, 919 W. Illinois St., Urbana. INSTITUTE
o Labor and Industrial Relations -- 1:30 p.m., Wagner Education Ceremony, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, 504 E. Armory Ave., Champaign. CONGRATULATORY PROGRAMS
African-American Cultural Program -- 7:30 p.m. May 15 (Saturday), 100 George Huff Hall.
o La Casa Cultural Latina -- 7 p.m. May 15 (Saturday), Foellinger Auditorium. INITIATION PROGRAM
o Phi Beta Kappa -- 10 a.m. May 15 (Saturday), Tryon Festival Theater, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
COMMISSIONING PROGRAM
o All-Service ROTC Commissioning Ceremony -- 1 p.m. May 17 (Monday), Foellinger Auditorium.
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