Newswise — The 139th 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 the 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. ceremonies will be Timothy P. Shriver, the chairman and chief executive officer of Special Olympics International. In recognition and appreciation of his dedication as an educator and as an advocate for people with disabilities, Shriver will be presented with the university’s Presidential Medallion during the 10:30 ceremony.
At the morning ceremony, candidates in the colleges of Applied Health Sciences; Law; Liberal Arts and Sciences; Media; Veterinary Medicine; the Institute of Aviation; the School of Labor and Employment Relations; the School of Social Work; and the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences will receive degrees
Candidates in the colleges of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; Business; Education; Engineering; and Fine and Applied Arts will receive degrees at the afternoon 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, the remaining seats will be available to the public. Shuttle buses also will stop at various campus locations, including the Assembly Hall, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
All students who have earned bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and professional degrees and advanced certificates during the preceding year are honored at the annual commencement.
As chairman and chief executive officer of Special Olympics International, Shriver serves 3.1 million Special Olympics athletes and their families in 175 countries. He has worked with world leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Hosni Mubarak and Shimon Peres to help transform the Special Olympics into a movement that focuses on respect, acceptance and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities from around the world. In 2007, Shriver worked with Chinese leaders to initiate a Special Olympics Program, highlighted by their hosting the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai. Shriver was a co-producer of DreamWorks Studios’ 1997 release, “Amistad,” and Disney Studios’ 2000 release, “The Loretta Claiborne Story.” He was the executive producer of “The Ringer,” and also has produced or co-produced shows for the ABC, TNT and NBC networks, and appeared on “The Today Show,” CNN, MTV and Nickelodeon’s “World of Difference.”
Before joining Special Olympics, Shriver was an educator who worked in programs on substance abuse, violence, school dropouts, and teen pregnancy. He created the New Haven Public Schools’ Social Development Project, now considered a leading school-based prevention effort in the United States, and co-founded the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, a research organization in the United States in social and emotional learning. Shriver earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a master’s degree in religion and religious education from Catholic University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Connecticut.
Four people have been chosen to receive honorary degrees during the commencement ceremonies.
The honorary-degree recipients: Erich Bloch, director, The Washington Advisory Group; former director, National Science Foundation: the honorary degree of doctor of engineering.
Bloch served as the director of the NSF from 1984-1990 and oversaw the foundation’s $3 billion annual budget and the award of 12,000-14,000 research grants in natural, physical and social sciences, education and engineering. Currently, as a director of The Washington Advisory Group, he advises on corporate research and development management and strategic planning for academically based research enterprises and other not-for-profit organizations. He was awarded the National Medal of Technology and is a recipient of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Founders Medal, the NSF’s Vannevar Bush Award, and the National Academy of Engineering’s Arthur M. Bueche Award. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, the Swedish Academy of Engineering Science, a Fellow of IEEE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a foreign member of the Engineering Academy of Japan.
Betty Chan Po-king, the chairman of the board of directors of the Yew Chung Education Foundation: the honorary degree of doctor of humane letters.
Chan has been a pioneer in early childhood education in China as well as internationally.
Chan earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education at the University of Hawaii and later completed her doctorate in child development and early childhood education at Tel Aviv University, Israel. She has been influential in the establishment of schools in Hong Kong and China. She took over directing a school in Hong Kong that was established by the Yew Chung Education Foundation and founded in 1932 by Chan’s mother, Madame Tsang Chor-hang. The school has been open continuously since its founding, except for the period during the Japanese occupation. Chan served as a consultant in the establishment of early childhood programs at the Hong Kong Institute of Education that is an amalgamation of various colleges of education. Richard M. Felder, professor emeritus, chemical engineering, North Carolina State University: the honorary degree of doctor of engineering.
Felder is known for his groundbreaking contributions to engineering education and engineering education research. He is widely known within the chemical engineering discipline for “Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes,” a book that has been a fixture in undergraduate chemical engineering curricula for decades. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Felder is the author of more than 200 published articles on engineering and science education. He was selected as a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education and received the Warren K. Lewis Award for Contributions to Chemical Engineering Education from the American Institute for Chemical Engineering. He also received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Pedagogical Scholarship from the American Society for Engineering Education.
Arnold L. Mitchem, president, Council for Opportunity in Education: the honorary degree of doctor of humane letters. Mitchem began his career on the history faculty at Marquette University and in 1969 was named the director of the Educational Opportunity Program at Marquette. In 1986 he moved to Washington, D.C., to become the president of the Council for Opportunity in Education. He has been a voice for low-income, first-generation students and individuals with disabilities and a champion for improving access and opportunity in education. Because of his work, TRIO Programs have expanded by nearly 400 percent and now serve more than 872,000 students at 1,200 colleges and universities. Mitchem is a member of the executive committee of the European Access Network as well as a former trustee of the College Board, and past president of the Committee for Education Funding, a Washington-based coalition of national education associations.
The University of Illinois Alumni Association will present three Alumni Achievement Awards during the ceremonies.
The recipients:Mohamed T. El-Ashry, M.S. (1963) Ph.D. (1966), facilitator, Global Leadership for Climate Action; senior fellow, United Nations Foundation; retired CEO, Global Environment Facility of World Bank. He lives in Bethesda, Md.
James M. Benson, class of 1968 (liberal arts and sciences), the president and CEO of Clark Benson LLC; retired president and CEO of John Hancock Life Insurance Co. He lives in Weston, Mass.
Roger L. Plummer, class of 1964 (engineering); president, Plummer & Associates Consulting, Chicago.
The Alumni Humanitarian Award, for significant contributions of leadership or service to improve the lives of others and the welfare of humanity, will be presented to Dennis B. Warner, class of 1963 (engineering, and liberal arts and sciences), M.S. (1966, engineering), senior technical adviser, Catholic Relief Services, Baltimore. He lives in Falls Church, Va.
The U. of I. Distinguished Service Award for extraordinary commitment, dedication and service to the advancement of the university was presented in Fairfax, Va., on Dec. 10, 2009, to Janet Turney Mulvaney, class of 1958 (ACES); former assistant to the superintendent, city of Fairfax schools (Virginia). She died Jan. 7, 2010. The award also was given to Merle L. Mulvaney, class of 1958 (ACES), the chief financial officer of AutoDocs LLC in Fairfax. The Mulvaneys were cited as “longtime and extraordinary volunteers for the alumni association, the university and the Illinois Alumni Club of Greater Washington, D.C.”
All graduating students and their guests are invited to a reception hosted by university President Stanley Ikenberry and Robert Easter, interim chancellor of the Urbana campus, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. May 16 in the gardens of the president’s house, 711 W. Florida Ave., Urbana. Academic attire is encouraged.The first floor of the main library will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. May 15 and May 16 for visitors and students to view the University Honors Bronze Tablets.Many individual UI units have scheduled additional commencement ceremonies. All take place on May 16, except as noted:COLLEGESAgricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences – 4:30 p.m., May 15, Assembly Hall.Applied Health Sciences – 9 a.m., May 15, Assembly Hall.Business – 12:30 p.m., May 15, Assembly Hall.Education – 9:30 a.m., 100 George Huff Hall, 1206 S. Fourth St., Champaign.Engineering – 4:30 p.m., Assembly Hall.Law – 12:30 p.m., May 15, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana.Media – 1:30 p.m., May 15, George Huff Hall.Veterinary Medicine – 1:30 p.m., Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.SCHOOLSArchitecture – 10 a.m., Foellinger Auditorium.Art and Design – 10 a.m., Tryon Festival Theater, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.Graduate School of Library and Information Science – 1:30 p.m., Recital Hall, Smith Memorial Hall.Music – 5:30 p.m., Recital Hall, Smith Memorial Hall.Social Work – 1 p.m., May 15, Smith Memorial Hall.DEPARTMENTSChemical and Biomolecular Engineering – 1:30 p.m., Colwell Playhouse, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.Chemistry– 1:30 p.m., Tryon Festival Theatre, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.Communication – 12:30 p.m., May 15, Foellinger Auditorium.Economics (LAS) and Finance (LAS) – 10 a.m., May 15, Foellinger Auditorium.English and Rhetoric – 3 p.m., May 15, Foellinger Auditorium.History and Philosophy – 4 p.m., May 15, Smith Memorial Hall.Landscape Architecture – 10:30 a.m., Sunken Garden, Allerton Park, Route 2, Monticello; in case of rain, Miller School Gymnasium, 100 W. Jefferson St., Monticello.Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science (LAS) – 4 p.m., Tryon Festival Theater, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.Physics and Astronomy – 2 p.m., May 15, 151 Loomis Laboratory of Physics, 1110 W. Green St., Urbana.Psychology – 4:30 p.m., Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.School of Literatures, Cultures, & Linguistics – 5:30 p.m., May 15, Foellinger Auditorium.Social Sciences – 4 p.m., May 15, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.Sociology, Anthropology, and Earth Sciences – 10 a.m., May 15, Huff Hall.Theatre – 10 a.m., Colwell Playhouse, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.Urban and Regional Planning – 9:30 a.m., Illinois Conference Center, 1900 S. First St., Champaign.INSTITUTESAviation – 2 p.m., Illini Union Rooms A and B on the first floor.School of Labor and Employment Relations – 3 p.m., May 15, 141 Wohlers Hall, 1206 S. Sixth St., Champaign.CONGRATULATORY PROGRAMSAfrican-American Cultural Program – 6:30 p.m., May 15, 100 George Huff Hall.La Casa Cultural Latina – 7:30 p.m., May 15, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.Native American House – 6 p.m., May 15, Illini Union, Illini Rooms A and B.INITIATION PROGRAMPhi Beta Kappa – 7:30 p.m., May 14, Illini Union Ballroom.COMMISSIONING PROGRAMTri-Service ROTC Commissioning Ceremony – 11 a.m., May 17, Foellinger Auditorium.For more information on additional commencement ceremonies of individualU. of I. units, visit http://www.illinois.edu/commencement.
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