Commencement Information for Faculty 2009
April 21, 2009
Dear Colleagues:
We invite you to join us for the joyous events of Commencement Weekend 2009 on Saturday May 9 (Hooding of Ph.D.s) and Sunday May 10 (Commencement). More information about Commencement is available at http://www.unc.edu/commencement.
Our students’ accomplishments are remarkable, and their friends and families value our roles as teachers, mentors, and scholars. Commencement events are central to building a sense of community within our University. You’re invited to wear academic regalia, but you are welcome regardless.
The Doctoral Hooding ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 9, at 10 a.m. in the Dean Smith Center and will feature remarks by Dr. Adron Harris, the M. June and J. Virgil Waggoner Chair in Molecular Biology and director of the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research at the University of Texas in Austin. Each graduate will be called to the stage to receive the doctoral hood from his or her advisor. Non-hooding faculty members should assemble in the Press Room at the Smith Center by 9:30 a.m. for the processional.
University Commencement is on Sunday May 10 at 9:30 a.m. in Kenan Stadium. This year’s speaker and Honorary Degree Recipient is Archbishop Emeritus Desmond M. Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and renowned South African anti-apartheid campaigner. We will honor our graduating students and the following other outstanding recipients of honorary degrees: William J. Armfield IV (investment executive and philanthropist); Eli N. Evans (writer on Jews in the south, nonprofit leader); Charles Sanders (physician and medical executive); Helen Maynor Sheirbeck (Native American activist and educational leader); and Lee Marshall Smith (prolific southern author).
Due to the construction at Kenan Stadium, faculty will gather at the old Kenan Field House at 9:00 a.m. Faculty Marshal Trudier Harris will lead the faculty processional. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will move to the Smith Center (faculty should use Entry D and go directly to the court level for seating). Regardless of the location, faculty parking will be available in the Craige Deck.
If you plan to participate in the May 10 Commencement ceremony you will need to obtain, in advance, an Inclement Weather Ticket to admit you to the Smith Center in the event of rain. Contact David Thompson in the Faculty Governance Office to request your ticket. He can be reached at dthomps3@email.unc.edu or at 962-2147.
Many of you have attended Commencement in the past, and we welcome you again. For those who have yet to participate in this venerable academic tradition, please join us. We look forward to seeing you there.
Sincerely yours,
Joseph Templeton
Chair of the Faculty
Trudier Harris
Faculty Marshal
