Commencement 2009 — SU’s 155th Commencement exercises May 10April 29, 2009Jaime Winne Alvarez jlwinne@syr.edu
In its 155th Commencement, Syracuse University will celebrate the graduation of 3,165 bachelor’s, 1,570 master’s and 140 doctoral degree candidates. In addition, 138 certificates of advanced study and five undergraduate certificates will be awarded. The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), in its 112th Commencement exercises, will confer 342 bachelor’s degrees, 55 master’s degrees and 10 doctoral degrees.
The College of Law will hold a separate ceremony Sunday, May 17, at 2 p.m., at the Carrier Dome, celebrating the conferral of 224 juris doctor degrees. Everett Gillison L’85 will deliver the 2009 Commencement address to graduates of Syracuse University College of Law. Gillison is a graduate of SU College of Law and currently serves as deputy mayor of public safety for Philadelphia.
On May 10, SU and SUNY-ESF Commencement exercises will begin at 9:30 a.m., with class, school and college marshals leading degree candidates into the Carrier Dome.
The academic procession will follow with Nancy Weatherly Sharp, professor of newspaper journalism in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, heading the procession that includes University Marshal Sandra N. Hurd, associate provost for academic programs and professor of law and public policy in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management; Associate University Marshal Shiu-Kai Chin, Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science; the newly named emeriti faculty; current faculty; administrators; Chancellor’s Cabinet; academic deans; members of the Board of Trustees; and the ROTC Color Guard.
The Chancellor’s party will include SU Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor; SUNY-ESF President Cornelius B. Murphy Jr.; Commencement speaker U.S. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68; the honorary degree recipients and their sponsors; Board of Trustees Chair John H. Chapple; SUNY-ESF Board of Trustees Chair William L. McGarry Jr.; and Walter J. Bobkiewicz III, president of the SU Alumni Association.
SU Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric F. Spina will preside. Kelly N. Sprinkle, interim dean of Hendricks Chapel, will deliver the invocation, and Emily Gibson, a master’s degree candidate in vocal performance in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, will sing the national anthem. Cantor, Murphy and Bobkiewicz will then offer remarks.
Cantor and Spina will confer honorary degrees upon Biden, Molly Corbett Broad ’62, Charles J. Fahey, Seymour M. Hersh, Irving Powless Jr. and Gianfranco Zaccai ’70. A Syracuse University Scholar will speak on behalf of the group, and Biden’s address will follow.
Cantor and Murphy will then confer doctoral degrees upon SU and SUNY-ESF candidates, followed by the conferral of master’s degrees and certificates of advanced study.
Spina will recognize SU Class Marshals Carissa Matthews and Brian Spendley, 12 University Scholars and three SUNY-ESF Scholars.
Cantor and Murphy will then confer baccalaureate degrees.
Raed Z. Saade, a graduating senior in music industry in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, will conclude the ceremony with the singing of the alma mater. The SU Brass Ensemble, under the direction of James T. Spencer, professor of chemistry in The College of Arts and Sciences, will provide processional music. Class marshals
Seniors Matthews, a public relations major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with minors in music industry and music history in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, and Spendley, a biomedical engineering major in the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science, will lead the procession of graduates. A class marshal is among the most prestigious honors at SU, awarded on the basis of academic achievement, involvement in student organizations and campus and community service.
Matthews, of Huntington Station, N.Y., is a 2008-09 Remembrance Scholar and Chancellor’s Scholar. She belongs to Kappa Tau Alpha Honor Society, and was awarded an Emerging Student Leader Award and the Soul of Syracuse Award. She is co-founder and executive director of comm.UNITY, a student organization that connects communications students with local nonprofit organizations. She was a member of University 100, giving tours of campus to prospective students and their families; director of the promotions board for University Union; and venue manager for Event Technical Services. Matthews was a member of the OrangeSeeds Program and director of event publicity for The Bang Project! She has been a resident advisor since October 2006 and was a tutor and mentor for International Young Scholars. Currently, she is engaged in an internship with the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (Syracuse CoE).
Matthews has also been named one of the University’s first Engagement Fellows. Following graduation, she will continue to live in Syracuse and work in public relations and communications for the Syracuse CoE. As part of that experience, she will work on projects including the Healthy Buildings 2009 International Conference in September. “I’m just excited to be part of the revitalization of Syracuse,” she says. “It’s definitely a city on the rise.
“I could not be more honored to lead the Class of 2009 at graduation with Brian,” she says. “When I look around campus and see what all my classmates are doing-innovating, researching, inventing, creating, giving, caring, teaching-I am just blown away by all of their accomplishments. To think that I could be the representation of what my class has done in their four years, and what they stand for, I’m really quite humbled by it.”
Spendley, of Hampton, N.J., is also a 2008-09 Remembrance Scholar. He received the LCS Alumni Association Service Award, the 2007 Homecoming Orange Spirit Award, the 2008 Mark and Pearle Clements Internship Award, the Robert B. Menschel Public Service Award, the Emerging Leaders Award, the Division of Student Affairs Leadership Institute Citation of Distinction, the Student Life “Live It” Award for Excellence in Leadership and the Habitat for Humanity Volunteer of the Year Award for 2007. He is a member of Phi Kappa Alpha, a men’s honorary fraternity.
Spendley worked as a mentor orientation leader with the Office of Off-Campus Programs for three years. Last summer, he had a clinical internship with Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s summer program. Upon completion of his internship, he traveled to Gambia, where he participated in a community health and medical outreach project. This year, he interned with Teach for America as a campus campaign coordinator. He was executive director of the SU/SUNY-ESF chapter of Habitat for Humanity and has been a member of SU Ambulance for four years. He also worked for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life for four years.
Next fall, Spendley will attend graduate school at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he will be working toward a master’s of health science in health policy.
“I feel incredibly honored and am thrilled to represent the Class of 2009 as a class marshal,” he says. “Being recognized as the class marshal for 2009 is one of the most significant awards I have ever received. It was an amazing opportunity to be a part of the convocation speaker selection process, and I will never forget this incredible honor. I am extremely grateful for all that Syracuse University has granted me, and no matter where I end up, I will forever be an Orangeman.”
School/College Marshals
Marshals for each of the University’s schools and colleges have also been selected to lead the procession of graduates from each school or college into the Commencement ceremony. They are:
Graduate School
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
The College of Arts and Sciences
College of Visual and Performing Arts
College of Law
L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science
School of Education
School of Information Studies
Martin J. Whitman School of Management
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
School of Architecture
College of Human Ecology
University College
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
