Commencement 2012

GAMBIER, Ohio (May 15, 2012)

Pride and joy take center stage at Kenyon on May 18-19 as the Class of 2012 celebrates Commencement Weekend. With family and friends looking proudly on, 412 graduating seniors will receive their diplomas and march into the world beyond Gambier. Highlights include a Commencement address by Aileen c. Hefferren '88, the chief executive the educational nonprofit Prep for Prep.

The College's 184th Commencement ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 19, on the lawn in front of Samuel Mather Hall. (The rainsite is the Kenyon Athletic Center.) The same location and rainsite will serve for the Baccalaureate service, to be held at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, May 18. For its Baccalaureate speaker, the senior class chose Associate Professor of Political Science Pamela Camerra-Rowe.

At Commencement, honorary degrees will be awarded to Hefferren as well as to two retiring faculty members, Jean Blacker, professor of French, and Michael Levine, the Samuel B. Cummings Jr. Professor of Psychology. On Friday, all-campus seminars will be offered by Assistant Professor of Physics Tom Giblin and Professor of Women's and Gender Studies Laurie Finke.

Hefferren, a Kenyon trustee and a summa cum laude graduate in the Class of 1988, has led Prep for Prep since 2002. The widely admired nonprofit organization prepares promising students of color in New York City for placement in private schools and lives of leadership. Since its founding in 1978, Prep has enabled more than 4,000 students to attend private day and boarding schools and go on to college. Its alumni have graduated from all of the Ivy League universities and a wide range of highly selective colleges, including Kenyon.

Camerra-Rowe, who joined the Kenyon faculty in 1994, is a gifted teacher who energizes students through her own enthusiasm and who has also served as a generous mentor to those considering careers in public service and international affairs. She received the Trustee Teaching Excellence Award in 2011 and currently holds the John B. McCoy-Banc One Distinguished Teaching Professorship. Camerra-Rowe will deliver an address titled "Office Hours."

The all-campus seminars take place at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Giblin's presentation, in Hayes Hall 109, is titled "Universally Misunderstood: What You Should Know about the Universe Around Us (and How)." Finke will speak in Tomsich Hall 101, on the topic "Knights, Lords, and Bands of Brothers: Fraternities and the Romance of the Middle Ages."