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May 11, 2008 Download to Computer: Download to MP3 Player: |
Beloit College celebrated another outstanding graduating class on May 11, when 300 graduates crossed the stage to receive the academic recognition they had been working toward for four years.
Dana Gioia, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts and an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet, and Rolf Wegenke, Wisconsin’s leading advocate for independent colleges and universities were both honored during the 2008 commencement ceremonies.
Now in his second term as chair of the NEA, Gioia delivered the 2008 Commencement address, in which he urged the graduates to find "a self-assigned task" that held deep and authentic meaning as their life's work. "If you do not define your life, other people and institutions will do it for you," he said.
A native Californian, Gioia earned his bachelor’s and Master of Business Administration degrees from Stanford University and a master’s degree in comparative literature from Harvard University. He has published three full-length collections of poetry and is an influential critic whose 1991 book, Can Poetry Matter?, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2001, he founded “Teaching Poetry,” a conference dedicated to improving high school teaching of poetry. His co-edited anthology, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama, is the best selling college literary text book in America.
Wegenke is president and chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, known as WAICU. He served in the administration of five Wisconsin governors before entering the education field. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Wisconsin and earned a master’s and doctoral degree from the University of Chicago.
A past president of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Wegenke chairs the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board. He is the recipient of numerous honors including the Governor’s Exceptional Performance Award.
Also honored at the Commencement were Al and Phyllis Wendorf, of Beloit. They were recognized for more than two decades of dedication to Beloit College’s international education program. Through their commitment, students from scores of countries who attend Beloit each year have had a local family with whom to communicate and form friendships. The Wendorfs received the 2008 Beloit College Presidential Medal.
For more information, contact the Beloit College Office of Public Affairs at 608-363-2625 or pubaff@beloit.edu.