Penn State Intercom......July 26, 2001

Summer commencement to be
Aug. 4 at University Park campus

The University will hold 2001 summer commencement ceremonies Saturday, Aug. 4, at University Park. An estimated 13 associate, 1,270 baccalaureate and 600 graduate degree students will graduate. The undergraduate ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. in The Bryce Jordan Center and The Graduate School ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Throughout the Penn State system, an estimated 184 students will graduate with associate degrees, 1,480 with baccalaureate degrees and 796 with graduate degrees, for a systemwide total of 2,460 summer graduates.

Distinguished scientist Alan Schriesheim will receive an honorary doctor of science degree and will be the speaker at the undergraduate commencement. Daniel Larson, dean of the Eberly College of Science, will be the speaker at The Graduate School commencement.

Schriesheim is director emeritus of the Argonne National Laboratory, the first national laboratory established by the federal government. Under his leadership, a series of initiatives were launched to broaden the laboratory's research scope and expand its relationships with other government, academic and industrial organizations, both nationally and internationally. A graduate of Brooklyn Polytechnic University, he received a Ph.D. in chemistry from Penn State.

Penn State awards honorary degrees to scholars, performers, artists and practitioners in academic fields, or individuals who have made particularly distinguished contributions to society in areas such as public service, business or government. This year's recipient was recommended by a 15-member faculty committee and approved by President Graham B. Spanier and the Board of Trustees.

Before assuming the role of dean in the Eberly College of Science in 1998, Larson was chairman of the physics department at the University of Virginia. He earned both his doctoral and master's degrees in physics at Harvard University. A leader in physics education at the graduate and undergraduate levels, Larson's research interests center on experimental atomic and molecular physics.

Spanier will confer degrees for both ceremonies.

Honors college to hold first
summer medals ceremony

The Schreyer Honors College will hold its first summer medals ceremony for approximately 40 graduating seniors at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3, in The Nittany Lion Inn Ballroom at University Park.

Rhodes Scholar Zachary Battles, who is graduating with three academic degrees, will be among the medal recipients. Battles won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University in England for the next two or three years.

The honors graduates will receive a medallion designed by John A. Cook, professor emeritus of art in the College of Arts and Architecture. The medallion is given as a distinction of successful completion of requirements to graduate with honors from Penn State. President Graham B. Spanier will present the medals, assisted by Rodney Erickson, executive vice president and provost, and Cheryl Achterberg, dean of the Schreyer Honors College.

Until now, the Schreyer Honors College has held medals ceremonies only for the fall and spring semesters. The summer ceremony has been introduced to honor graduates in a timely fashion.

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