BARD COLLEGE TO HOLD ONE HUNDRED FORTY-SECOND COMMENCEMENT ON SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2002 Renowned Biologist and Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman to Deliver Commencement Address
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College will hold its one hundred forty-second commencement on Saturday, May 25. At the commencement ceremony, Bard President Leon Botstein will confer 290 undergraduate degrees to the Class of 2002, and 53 graduate degrees: 25 masters of fine arts, 10 masters of arts in the history of the decorative arts, 14 masters of arts in curatorial studies, and four masters of science in environmental studies. The program, which begins at 2:30 p.m. on Bard's Main Lawn, will also include the bestowing of honorary doctorates.
The commencement address will be given by leading molecular biologist and Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman.
Tilghman will receive an honorary doctor of science degree. Honorary degrees will also be awarded to architect Frank O. Gehry, New York City Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy, historian Natalie Zemon Davis, sociologist and author Andrew M. Greeley, and historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Levering Lewis.
Other events taking place during commencement weekend include class reunions; a concert by Bard student soloists and composers with the American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, conductor; and the granting of Bard College Awards for the year 2002. The Bard Medal will be presented to Michael DeWitt '65; the John and Samuel Bard Award in Medicine and Science to Richard M. Ransohoff '68; the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters to Sandra Sammataro Phillips '67; the John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service to James N. Rosenau '48; and the Mary McCarthy Award to Frances FitzGerald.
ABOUT THE COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
Shirley M. Tilghman is the president of Princeton University, a renowned molecular biologist, and a pioneer in the efforts to map the human genome. She was elected as Princeton's 19th president in May 2001 and is the first woman president in the University's 256-year history. Throughout her career, Tilghman has combined teaching, groundbreaking research, and political advocacy for such issues as women in science and stem cell research.
She joined the Princeton faculty in 1986 as the Howard A. Prior Professor of the Life Sciences. In 1998 she became the founding director of Princeton's Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics. She is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and an adjunct professor in the department of biochemistry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
As a researcher, Tilghman has distinguished herself with her pioneering work on mammalian genetics, particularly the role that genes play in the development of the mammalian embryo, and as one of the architects of the national effort to map the human genome. She was one of the founding members of the National Advisory Council of the Human Genome Project Initiative for the National Institutes of Health. In addition, she has been a national leader on behalf of women in science and for promoting efforts to make the early careers of young scientists more meaningful and productive.
A native of Canada, Tilghman received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Temple University in Philadelphia. Prior to joining Princeton's faculty, she was a Fogarty International Fellow, National Institutes of Health; assistant professor, Fels Research Institute, Temple University School of Medicine; member, Institute for Cancer Research, Philadelphia; and adjunct associate professor of human genetics and biochemistry and biophysics, University of Pennsylvania.
She is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Society of London.