College Visit: Colleges and universities from around the country announce their graduation speakers

By Megan Klein, Managing News Editor
As the year winds down and seniors have their entrance into the world looming in the near future, many colleges and universities nationwide have released the names of their 2005 commencement speakers, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The speakers range from television personalities to accomplished athletes to political figures.

Two schools in the Five College Consortium announced their graduation speakers. Nina Totenberg, the legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio, will speak at Mt. Holyoke College's graduation, and Rochelle Lazarus, the chair and chief executive officer of the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, will speak at the graduation ceremony at Smith College, according to The Chronicle.

Several colleges will have politicians speak at graduation ceremonies. Tom Ridge, the former U.S. secretary of homeland security and the former governor of Pennsylvania, will speak at the graduation ceremony of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Penn., according to The Chronicle. Current U.S. Representative Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) is scheduled to speak at the graduation at the State University of New York at Old Westbury campus in Old Westbury, N.Y. Another U.S. Representative, Phil English (R-Penn.), will speak at the graduation ceremony of Thiel College in Greenville, Penn. Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, will speak at Loyola College in Baltimore, Md.

Other schools have selected speakers who are popular culture figures. Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., will welcome Sean Hannity, co-host of the Fox News Show "Hannity & Colmes," according to The Chronicle. The 2005 PGA First Lady of Golf recipient, amateur golfer Carol Semple Thompson, will speak at Hollins University in Roanoke, Va.

Two of the Claremont schools in California will host speakers who participated in high-profile Supreme Court cases. Sarah Weddington will speak at Pitzer College's graduation ceremony, according to The Chronicle. Weddington argued on the winning side of the abortion case Roe v. Wade in 1973. John Payton, a lawyer who participated in the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case about affirmative action in undergraduate admissions, will speak at Pomona College.

Elizabethtown College will host a food pioneer; Anne Beiler, founder of the pretzel company Auntie Anne's Inc., will speak at its graduation, according to The Chronicle.

Issue 25, Submitted 2005-04-26 21:03:51