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***** This event is free and open to the public. No reserved tickets are required. |
Beloit College will celebrate another outstanding graduating class on Sunday, May 11, when 300 graduates cross the stage to receive the academic recognition they have 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 will both be honored during the 2008 commencement ceremonies, which will take place at 11 a.m., on the lawn in from of historic Middle College. More than 1,800 family and friends are expected to be on hand to watch the graduates cross the stage.
Also honored at this year’s Commencement will be Al and Phyllis Wendorf of Beloit. They will be 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 Wendorf’s will receive the 2008 Beloit College Presidential Medal.
Gioia, who will deliver the Commencement address, is in his second term as chair of the NEA. A native Californian, he 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, he chairs the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board. He is the recipient of numerous honors including the Governor’s Exceptional Performance Award.
Beloit ’s Commencement ceremonies will be preceded by a weekend of activities and social events allowing students one last opportunity to celebrate their academic achievements as a class. In case of inclement weather, the ceremonies will be held in the Flood Arena at the Beloit College SportsCenter. The public is cordially invited to join in the ceremonies. No tickets are required.