May 4, 2001Media Contact: Emily Pearce, 615-322-NEWS[email protected]
Chancellor to give first Commencement speech at Vanderbilt
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Chancellor Gordon Gee will give his first Commencement speech to approximately 2,200 students at Vanderbilt University's graduation exercises Friday, May 11, on Alumni Lawn.
Gee became the seventh Chancellor of Vanderbilt last July 31 after Joe B. Wyatt retired.
The Commencement exercises will take advantage of the latest technology. For the fourth year, the ceremony will be cybercast live starting at 9 a.m. Six broadcast-quality cameras and a production truck will be used to send pictures of the ceremony to people throughout the world. The webcast can be viewed by going to http://webevents.broadcast.com/vanderbilt/commencement0501 or by linking to the site through the Vanderbilt homepage at www.vanderbilt.edu. In addition to the live webcast, two video walls, 14 feet tall and 18 feet wide, will be placed on Alumni Lawn so people sitting away from the stage can get a better view of the ceremony.
The top scholar in each of the University's undergraduate and professional schools will be awarded a Founder's Medal during the ceremony. And faculty and administration members who are retiring this year will be honored with the title "emeritus" or "emerita" in recognition of their years of distinguished service.
The Commencement begins at 9 a.m. with the procession of graduates on Alumni Lawn, located near the Old Gym/Fine Arts Building just off West End Avenue at 23rd Avenue North. If it rains, the event will be moved to Memorial Gymnasium. The ceremony hasn't been moved because of rain since 1970.
After Chancellor Gee's address, the deans of the graduate and professional schools will award diplomas in separate ceremonies.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao will be the keynote speaker at the Owen Graduate School of Management ceremony. That ceremony starts at 10:45 a.m. on Magnolia Circle Lawn, Peabody College, at Edgehill Avenue and 21st Avenue South.
Approximately 2,700 students completed requirements for degrees during the past year. Some students who completed degrees in August and December 2000 may elect not to return for Commencement exercises.
Attached is a schedule of Commencement activities.Vanderbilt University is a private research university of approximately 6,000 undergraduates and 4,200 graduate and professional students. Founded in 1873, the University comprises 10 schools, a public policy institute, a distinguished medical center and The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center. Vanderbilt, ranked as one of the nation's top universities, offers undergraduate programs in the liberal arts and sciences, engineering, music, education and human development, and a full range of graduate and professional degrees.
For more news about Vanderbilt, visit the Vanderbilt News Service homepage on the Internet at www.vanderbilt.edu/News.
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