Commencement 2004 at Washington University in St. Louis will feature more than a dozen distinguished speakers, both at the All-University Ceremony (May 21) and at individual school diploma and recognition ceremonies (May 19-21).
Thomas L. Friedman, the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign-affairs columnist for The New York Times, will deliver the Commencement address for the Class of 2004 at the All-University Ceremony, which begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 21, in Brookings Quadrangle. During the ceremony, Friedman also will receive an honorary doctor of laws.
Friedman received the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 and in 1988 for international reporting and in 2002 for commentary. He joined the Times in 1981 as a financial reporter, specializing in news related to oil and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. In 1982, he became the paper’s Beirut bureau chief, a post he began six weeks before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. In 1984, he was transferred to Jerusalem, where he served as Israel bureau chief until 1988, when he was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship to write a book about his reflections on the Middle East.
In 1989, Friedman published From Beirut to Jerusalem, which was on the Times’ best-seller list for a year and won the National Book Award for nonfiction and the Overseas Press Club Award for the Best Book on Foreign Policy. He became the Times’ foreign-affairs columnist — only the fifth person in the paper’s history to hold that post — in 1995.
In addition to Friedman, a variety of distinguished Washington University faculty and eminent guest speakers will address graduating students at individual school diploma ceremonies and other events. Speaker’s include:
Stephen F. Brauer
HENRY EDWIN SERVER GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES
2 p.m. Friday, May 21; Edison Theatre
Brauer is former U.S. ambassador to Belgium and chairman and chief executive officer of Hunter Engineering. A part owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, Brauer has served as a member of the Washington University board of trustees since 1991 and is a former chair of the engineering school’s National Council.
Christopher I. Byrnes, Ph.D.
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES
1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 20; Field House; Athletic Complex
Byrnes is dean of Washington University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Edward H. and Florence G. Skinner Professor of Systems Science and Mathematics. An internationally recognized expert in systems and control, Byrnes has held faculty positions at Arizona State University, Harvard University, the University of Utah, and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden.
Anthony Delitto Ph.D., PT
PROGRAM IN PHYSICAL THERAPY
Immediately following All-University Commencement Friday, May 21; Sheldon Concert Hall
Delitto (Ph.D. 1990 and MHS/PT 1983) is associate professor and chair of the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, where he also serves as vice-president for Education and Research at the Centers for Rehab Services.
Stephen Goldberg, M.D.
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
3 p.m. Friday, May 21; Ferrara Theater in America’s Center
Goldberg is professor emeritus of family medicine and cell biology/anatomy at the University of Miami School of Medicine. In 1979, he founded the MedMaster Publishing Co., which produces books and CDs for medical students, physicians, nurses and other health professionals. Goldberg has authored a number of titles in the MedMaster series and has worked with other authors in an editorial capacity. His first book, Clinical Neuroanatomy Made Ridiculously Simple, has sold more than 300,000 English edition copies.
Jim Harris
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
Immediately following All-University Commencement Friday, May 21; Brookings Drive Mall
Rain Location and Time: Graham Chapel, 3 p.m.
Harris is associate professor of architecture at Washington University. A registered architect, Harris has worked with Dolf Schnebli of Switzerland, Anselevicius/Rupe Associates of St. Louis and in private practice. He has served as assistant and associate dean at the School of Architecture, where he has also directed the undergraduate program, and also served as an art critic for the New Art Examiner and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Robert E. Hegel, Ph.D.
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Immediately following All-University Commencement Friday, May 21; Edison Theatre
Hegel is professor of Chinese and comparative literature in Arts & Sciences at Washington University. Hegel specializes in studies of Chinese fiction and theater. He has lived in China and Taiwan and has traveled extensively in China for his research. Publications include Reading Illustrated Fiction in Late Imperial China (1998); Expressions of Self in Chinese Literature, edited with Richard C. Hessney (1985) and The Novel in Seventeenth Century China (1981).
Repps Hudson
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 19; John E. Simon Hall Auditorium and Courtyard
Hudson is a business reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and co-coordinator of Washington University’s Communications and Journalism Program in University College in Arts & Sciences.
Michael Kaplan
JOHN M. OLIN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Undergraduate Diploma and Awards Ceremony
Immediately following All-University Commencement Friday, May 21; Field House, Athletic Complex
Kaplan (BSBA ’88) is partner with Three Arch Partners, a $1 billion venture capital fund that invests in medical technology and healthcare services. Before joining Three Arch, Kaplan was a senior executive at Blue Shield of California, a $4.5 billion health plan, and a healthcare consultant at APM Incorporated (now CSC Healthcare).
Shanti K. Khinduka, Ph.D.
ELIOT HONORS CONVOCATION
10:30 a.m. Thursday, May 20; Field House, Athletic Complex
Khinduka, George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor, has served as dean of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work for 28 years. He has written extensively on social work education, international social work and ethnic diversity. Currently president of the Inter-University Consortium for International Social Development, he has chaired numerous commissions for the Council on Social Work Education, the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work and the National Association of Social Workers.
Jack Knight, Ph.D., J.D.
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 20; Field House, Athletic Complex
Knight is the Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government and chair of the Department of Political Science in Arts & Sciences at Washington University. He has published widely on modern social and political theory; law, courts and jurisprudence; political economy; and philosophy of social science. Books include Institutions and Social Conflict (1992) and Explaining Social Institutions, edited with Itai Sened (1995).
Ned O. Lemkemeier
SCHOOL OF LAW
12:30 p.m. Friday, May 21; Brookings Quadrangle
Rain Location: Recreational Gymnasium, Athletic Complex
Lemkemeier, a trustee of Washington University and chair of the School of Law National Council, is a partner with Bryan Cave LLP, St. Louis, where he specializes in labor and employment law. Before joining Bryan Cave, he was a partner with the law firm of Spoehrer and Lemkemeier 1965-1984, and was with Monsanto Company from 1962-1965.
Gary Loveman
JOHN M. OLIN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Graduate Diploma and Awards Ceremony
3 p.m. Friday, May 21; Field House, Athletic Complex
Loveman is president and chief executive officer of Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., a Fortune 500 casino entertainment company with 41,000 employees and $4.3 billion in annual revenues in 2003. Earlier this year, Loveman was recognized by Institutional Investor magazine as “Best CEO” in the gaming and lodging industry.
Gary R. Olson
PROGRAM IN HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
Noon, Friday, May 21; Sheraton Clayton Plaza Hotel, The Grand Ballroom
Olson (M.H.A., ’76) is president and chief executive officer of St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo., which he joined as an associate administrator in 1978. A fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Olson was recently elected president of the Missouri Hospital Association St. Louis District Council.
Patrick Rummerfield
PROGRAM IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Reception immediately following All-University Commencement Friday, May 21; Holmes Lounge
Diploma Ceremony immediately following reception; Graham Chapel
Rummerfield is director of performance assessment in the School of Medicine’s Spinal Cord Injury Program. After a motor vehicle collision in 1974, Rummerfield was himself paralyzed from the neck down yet, despite permanent nervous system damage and an extremely bleak prognosis, he slowly rehabilitated and today can not only walk, but competes in marathons and triathlons.
Sr. Mary Jean Ryan, FSM
GEORGE WARREN BROWN SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
Immediately following All-University Commencement Friday, May 21; Graham Chapel
Ryan is president and chief executive officer of SSM Health Care, St. Louis, one of the largest Catholic health-care systems in the United States. Ryan, who began her health care career as a nurse, has led SSM Health Care since 1986 and was recently ranked “One of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” by Modern Healthcare.
Patrick Schuchard
SCHOOL OF ART
8 p.m. Thursday, May 20; Graham Chapel
Schuchard is E. Desmond Lee Professor for Community Collaboration and associate professor of art at Washington University. A widely exhibited artist, Schuchard’s current practice weaves together elements of painting, sculpture, architecture, public policy and even city planning.