Newswise — Williams College President Morton Owen Schapiro will confer Bachelor of Arts degrees on 517 seniors at the college's 217th Commencement on Sunday, June 4. Fourteen students in the History of Art Program and 27 fellows from the Center for Development Economics will receive master's degrees.
The procession, led by Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen C. Massimiano, steps off at 9:30 a.m. from the First Year Quad, with the ceremony beginning at West College Lawn at 10 a.m. The public is cordially invited unless the ceremonies are moved because of rain (see rain plans below).
Three graduating seniors will speak at Commencement. The highest-ranking student Marcus Duyzend, a computer science major from Shoreline, Wash., will deliver the valedictory address, "Looking Out; Looking In." The Phi Beta Kappa speaker, Rosemary Smith, a philosophy and economics major from New York, N.Y. will address "Containing Little or Nothing." Evan Miller of Lookout Mountain, Tenn., chosen by his classmates as class speaker, will deliver a speech on "What Does Williams Mean to You?"
Founder and artistic director of the African American Dance Ensemble Chuck Davis will deliver the Commencement address, "Devoted to Commitment." The president will confer an honorary degree on him along with writer/composer Bill Finn '74, educator Catharine B. Hill '76, scene designer Ming Cho Lee, dancer Liz Lerman, ballet master Peter Martins, actor and artistic director Roger Rees, and former dean of the Yale School of Drama Lloyd Richards.
On Saturday, June 3, elected seniors will be inducted into academic honor societies. Thirty-eight students were elected to Phi Beta Kappa at the close of the senior year. Those students combined with the 26 students inducted in September 2005 represent the top 12.5 percent of the class. Fifty-four seniors were elected to Sigma Xi, the national scientific honor society.
On Saturday afternoon at the informal Ivy Exercises, members of the Senior Class will present the Class Poem and History, sing the Class Song, and plant the traditional ivy. Nancy Roseman, dean of the college, will present awards and prizes, including the national Olmsted Prizes for Excellence in Secondary School Teaching, awarded annually since 1984. At the close of the Ivy Exercises, Class president Eliza Davison, a biology and art major from Bainbridge Island, Wash. and vice president Megan O'Malley, an art major from Sparta, N.J., will drop a watch from the 80-foot spire of Thompson Memorial Chapel. According to tradition, the senior class will have good luck if the watch breaks!
At 5 p.m. an Interfaith Baccalaureate Service for seniors and their parents will be held in Chapin Hall. President Schapiro will speak, and Roger Rees will deliver the Baccalaureate address, "There's Work to Be Done." The service will be led by Richard E. Spalding, chaplain to the college.
In case of heavy rain, the Ivy Exercises and the Commencement will move to Lansing-Chapman Hockey Rink, where admission will be by ticket only. Admission is by ticket only to the Baccalaureate Service.
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