Cornell celebrates 136th Commencement May 30 with first commencement address by President Jeffrey S. Lehman, senior convocation address May 29 by former president Bill Clinton

Contact: Linda Grace-Kobas
Office: 607-255-4206
E-Mail: lg16@cornell.edu

Jeffrey S. Lehman Copyright © Cornell University

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University will celebrate its 136th Commencement on Sunday, May 30, with approximately 5,200 graduates receiving degrees at a ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. on Schoellkopf Field. President Jeffrey S. Lehman, Cornell's first alumnus president (Class of 1977), will present his first commencement address.

Lehman, who assumed the presidency July 1, 2003, was inaugurated in October in events spanning the globe at Cornell's medical school in Doha, Qatar, and at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. At his formal installation on the Ithaca campus, he presented a vision of "The University for the 21st Century" in which he challenged higher education -- and Cornellians -- to provide fresh leadership in areas that are critical to the well-being of all humanity.

The commencement ceremony caps two days of celebratory events at Cornell.

The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd president of the United States, will present the Senior Convocation address Saturday, May 29, at 9 a.m. in Schoellkopf Field.

Bill Clinton

The event will be open to the public. Tickets are not required for admission, which will begin at 6:30 a.m. All attendees must be seated by 8:30 a.m. In the event of severe weather, the convocation will be held in Barton Hall and only graduating students will be permitted to attend.

Elected president in 1992 and 1996, Clinton was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term. He presided over the strongest American economy in a generation and the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. After leaving office in January 200l, Clinton founded the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, based in New York City, which focuses on AIDS treatment in poor countries; economic empowerment of the poor; reconciliation among racial, ethnic and religious groups; and citizen service. The convocation and commencement ceremonies will be viewable via live webcasts. Links will be posted from Cornell's Web home page at http://www.cornell.edu . They also will be broadcast live on Time-Warner cable television Channel 16 in Tompkins County.

Viewing will be available on campus in Bartels Hall, Call Alumni Auditorium in Kennedy Hall and the auditoriums in Martha Van Rensselaer and Statler halls. In the event of severe weather, additional viewing sites on campus will be made available.

Other commencement weekend events include:

Saturday, May 29:

• Convocation: 9:00 a.m. Schoellkopf Stadium
• Phi Beta Kappa Induction: New members of the Cornell chapter will be inducted at 10:30 a.m. in Uris Hall, Room G1.
• President/Trustees Parent Reception: Lehman and the Cornell Board of Trustees will host a reception for students, their families and guests from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the Arts Quad. The Cornell Wind Ensemble will perform.
• D.V.M. Hooding Ceremony: New doctors of veterinary medicine will take the Veterinarian's Oath and receive their hoods at a 2 p.m. ceremony in the Friedman Wrestling Center. Awards will be presented to interns and residents.
• ROTC Commissioning: The Reserve Officer Training Corps Brigade of Cornell will commission officers into the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force at a ceremony in Call Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy Hall, at 2 p.m.
• Ph.D. Recognition Ceremony: This special recognition event for Ph.D. and D.M.A. candidates will be held at 5 p.m. in Barton Hall, with a reception following. Families, friends and faculty members are invited to attend.

Other events on Saturday include the Senior Week Concert in Sage Chapel at 8 p.m.

Sunday, May 30:

• University Baccalaureate Service: Sherman Jackson, associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Michigan, will present the address at this interfaith service honoring graduating students at 8:30 a.m. in Barton Hall. He is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, and is the author of Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi (E.J. Brill, 1996) and On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's Faysal al-Tafriqa (Oxford, 2002), as well as numerous articles on Islamic law, theology and Islam in America.
• Procession: The procession assembles on the Arts Quad at 9:30 a.m. and begins the march to Schoellkopf Field at 9:45 a.m.
• Commencement ceremony: The ceremony will be held from 11 a.m. to noon.
• College and school ceremonies: Ceremonies and receptions for individual colleges and schools will be held at various locations across campus until 3 p.m.

In the event of severe weather, the ceremony may be delayed or held in two abbreviated ceremonies in Barton Hall. If the ceremony must be held indoors, there will be two programs:

• At 10:30 a.m., degrees will be conferred on graduates from the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, the Johnson Graduate School of Management and the Law School.
• At 1 p.m., degrees will be conferred on graduates from the Colleges of Architecture, Art and Planning, Engineering and Human Ecology, the Graduate School, and the Schools of Hotel Administration and Industrial and Labor Relations.

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