Maine Perspective Front Page
Commencement 1999
Special Ceremonies Honor Graduating Students on the Eve of Commencement
On the eve of Commencement, the University community will celebrate the achievements of graduate students, nursing students and ROTC cadets in three ceremonies.
More than 800 guests are expected to attend the 12th annual Graduate Recognition Ceremony, which begins at 4 p.m. in Hutchins Concert Hall May 7.
Students are asked to report to the Maine Center for the Arts lobby by 2:45 p.m. They will be directed from there to the line up for the processional march.
Expected to take part in the ceremony are 180 graduate students, eight of whom are receiving Ph.D.s or Ed.D.s. Also participating will be 60 or more members of the graduate faculty.
UMaine President Peter Hoff will open the ceremony. Making general remarks on the importance of graduate education will be Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies Dan Dwyer. Hooding of graduates will be done by members of the Executive Committee of the Graduate Board and the college deans.
A reception follows in the Damn Yankee, Union.
The Graduate Recognition Ceremony was established more than a decade ago by the Graduate School and the Association of Graduate Students as a special ceremony apart from Commencement to honor graduate students, as well as the family members and graduate faculty members who have supported them throughout their studies.
The School of Nursing's Pinning Ceremony, a tradition signifying the completion of baccalaureate requirements for nursing students, begins at 7:30 p.m., May 7 in Hutchins Concert Hall.
This year, the ceremony will include 78 nursing students, 17 of whom are registered nurses who returned to school to complete their bachelor's degrees.
Presenting the students with their nursing pins will be Therese Shipps, director of the School of Nursing. The guest speaker for the evening is alumnus Christopher Gooley, an RN in the Pediatric Unit of Eastern Maine Medical Center.
Also speaking are two graduating nursing students selected by a vote of their peers: Christopher Irish and RN Darla Coombs, both of Bangor.
A reception in Wells Conference Center follows the ceremony.
The Army ROTC will conduct its commissioning of second lieutenants at 6 p.m., May 7, Devino Auditorium. This ceremony will commission five officers into the Army National Guard and the Active Duty Army: Jenny Collins, Army Nurse Corps; Daniel Green, Transportation Corps; Kenneth Levesque, Signal Corps; Gregory Napoli, Field Artillery; Kyle Snow, Field Artillery.
Ryan Crosby, received an Education Delay to attend Medical School. Upon successful completion of Medical School, he will come on active duty as a doctor.
Jeffrey Shirland will be commissioned and go into the Maine Army National Guard.
Professor of Military Science Lt. Col. Marc Girard will administer the Oath. Friends and Family will pin on their new second lieutenants' gold bars.