UW to graduate 10,000 plus in 3 commencements

The University of Washington’s Class of 2000 totals 10,223, including undergraduate, graduate and professional students who will receive degrees at three Commencement ceremonies - with the largest one Saturday, June 10, at Husky Stadium.

Richard L. McCormick, the University’s 28th president, will officiate at commencement ceremonies in Seattle and also for UW Tacoma, Friday, June 9, and for UW Bothell, Sunday, June 11.

About 9,200 degrees - baccalaureate, graduate and professional - will be awarded June 10 in Husky Stadium, come rain or come shine. It is the University’s 125th Commencement ceremony but just the third in the football stadium. The first Husky Stadium ceremony was in 1998, a change made to accommodate the ever-growing number of graduates and guests. The ceremony will start at 2 p.m.

Last year’s commencement featured a new accessory - cell phones to call mom and dad to tell them where you’re sitting.

According to preliminary figures, 545 will receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the UW Tacoma in the Tacoma Dome. The UW Bothell’s commencement is expected to recognize 475 receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue.

In Seattle, graduates will begin to line up at 12:30 p.m. as the stadium gates open. The procession begins at 1:30 and the ceremony begins at 2. In case of inclement weather, the two-and-a-half-hour ceremony will be shortened.

Baccalaureate, graduate and professional degrees will be conferred on about 4,800 expected to participate in academic regalia before an audience of about 35,000 family members and friends as guests of the graduates.

These degrees - from baccalaureate to doctoral level - have been earned by students who completed their academic requirements sometime during the 1999-2000 academic year, which includes summer and autumn quarters in 1999, plus winter and spring quarters in 2000.

The Commencement speaker is Robert Pinsky, the 39th poet laureate of the United States. Pinsky, 60, is the only poet to be appointed to three consecutive one-year terms. He was first appointed in 1997.

Pinsky teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University. He also is poetry editor of the on-line journal Slate and a contributor to the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS.

Pinsky’s main undertaking as poet laureate is the “Favorite Poem Project,” in which he selects a broad cross section of Americans reading aloud their favorite poems, as part of the Library of Congress bicentennial.

A graduate of Rutgers University, Pinsky received his master’s degree and doctorate in English from Stanford University.

The Seattle preliminary graduation figures total 9,203. Bachelor’s degrees will be awarded to 6,200 with 3,495 of those being June graduates. Among the graduating seniors, 24 will be graduating summa cum laude. One hundred forty will graduate magna cum laude. Cum laude honors will go to 395. Altogether, honor seniors number 559 or about 9 percent of their graduating class.

Master’s degrees will be awarded to 2,040. Doctor of philosophy, arts, musical arts and education degrees will go to 505. Professional degrees number 458 with 172 in law, 149 in medicine, 84 in pharmacy and 63 in dental surgery.

Preliminary graduation figures again have shown that the College of Arts and Sciences accounted for more than half of the bachelor’s degrees to be given. Arts and Sciences total 4,339 of the grads, with 2,432 of those being June graduates.

Other colleges and schools and their preliminary total of baccalaureate degrees: Business Administration, 769; Engineering, 563; Medicine with bachelor’s degrees in medical technology, physical therapy, prosthetics, and orthotics and occupational therapy, 135; Architecture and Urban Planning, 130; Forest Resources, 79; Nursing, 64; Social Work, 59; Ocean and Fishery Sciences, 41; Public Health and Community Medicine, 18; and Dentistry with a bachelor’s in dental hygiene, three.

Members of the Board of Regents, deans and other representatives of the University’s colleges and schools will participate in the Seattle ceremony. University officials also will be present at the Tacoma and Bothell ceremonies.

Many of the colleges and schools in the main campus will have separate graduation programs and celebrations.

The Alumna Summa Laude Dignata Award, the highest honor bestowed by the University to an alumnus or alumna, will be presented at the Seattle ceremonies to marine microbiologist Rita Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation.

In 1961 Colwell was the first woman to receive a doctorate in oceanography from the UW. Also the first woman to head the NSF, Colwell is renowned for her work in environmental control of epidemic diseases. In fact, she is one of the world’s leading researchers into the epidemiology of cholera

Other recipients of special honors will be acknowledged at the Seattle commencement. These include the Outstanding Public Service Award, Distinguished Teaching Awards, Excellence in Teaching Awards and the President’s Medal, the latter to the graduating senior with the best overall academic record, including grades. ¶

Fred Cordova, News and Information