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Release Date: Tue 16-Nov-2004
Contact: Stephen B. Collins
Phone: 207-872-3549
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May 23 Colby Commencement Blends Local and International Themes
Students from 33 states and 21 foreign countries will receive degrees at Colby College's 183rd commencement on Sunday, May 23, but there will be no shortage of Central Maine content. Richard Russo, whose award-winning novel Empire Falls is closely associated with the area, is the commencement speaker. The Class of 2004's valedictorian and class marshal is Justin Juskewitch of Mercer, Maine, a few miles to the west. And the class speaker, elected by members of the Class of 2004, is Catherine Chuprevich from Monmouth, Maine.
Graduation ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. on the lawn of Miller Library. Russo, who holds the rank of professor at Colby and taught a fiction class this year, will accept an honorary doctor of letters degree and will be onstage when his daughter Kate Russo receives her bachelor of arts degree from President William D. Adams. The public is invited to attend. However, in the event of bad weather the ceremony may be moved into the field house, in which case tickets are required.
The Class of 2004 numbers 485 and includes the first group of Davis-United World College Scholars, who came to Colby for four years from countries all over the world*. In 2000 Shelby M.C. Davis and his family offered to pay the full financial need of any student who completed one of the 10 international secondary schools known as United World College (UWC) and gained admission to Colby or to four other American colleges. The Davises now spend approximately $15 million a year on scholarships that send UWC graduates to those colleges and on partial scholarships to 45 other schools. This year they paid the full financial aid for 96 Davis-UWC scholars attending Colby.
Davis, the founder of the investment company Davis Selected Advisers, L.P., will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree and will be on hand to congratulate the 13 inaugural Davis-UWC scholars. Others receiving honorary doctoral degrees from Colby will be Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the first African-American to serve as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Barry Mazur, university professor at Harvard and a mathematician who specializes in number theory and algebraic geometry; and Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of the Grammy Award-winning a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock.
Receiving her degree as a member of the Class of 2004 is Ellen M. Corey of China, Maine. The 59-year-old assistant director of donor relations began working in Colby's development office as a temporary secretary 22 years ago. She took classes for credit in 16 of those years and graduates this month with a major in Russian studies and membership in the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society.
* Class of 2004 Davis-UWC Scholars are from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Jordan, Sudan, Macedonia, Zimbabwe, Serbia, Argentina, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand.
Information about Colby's commencement, including biographical material on honorary degree recipients, is online at www.colby.edu/commencement.
A high-resolution image of Richard Russo is available for publication. E-mail pr@colby.edu to request it .
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