Last modified: Friday, December 5, 2003
President Herbert to address IU's 2003 winter commencement
Adam W. Herbert, in his first year as the president of Indiana University, will address graduates at IU's winter commencement, to be held Dec. 20 at 9 a.m. in Assembly Hall on the Bloomington campus.
A total of 1,959 graduates are eligible to participate in the event. That figure includes all degree candidates for December, as well as graduate students whose degrees have been awarded on a monthy basis from September to November.
The traditional commencement ceremony includes a formal presentation of the graduating class, which will be performed by Sharon Stephens Brehm, vice president for academic affairs and chancellor of the Bloomington campus. Herbert will follow by presenting the class with its charge. Conferral of degrees will be led by Herbert, assisted by Brehm and the deans of the individual schools. This will be Brehm's last commencement as vice president of academic affairs and chancellor. She will step down on Dec. 31 to become senior adviser to the president.
The Rev. Linda C. Johnson, associate rector of the Trinity Episcopal Church, will deliver the invocation. Fred Eichhorn, president of the IU Board of Trustees, will represent the university in the induction of its newest graduates. Thomas Rush, chair of the Indiana Alumni Association Executive Council, will represent the alumni, and Sarah Keil, a representative of the IU Student Alumni Association, will represent the class. Gwyn Richards, dean of the IU School of Music, will lead musical accompaniment to the processional and recessional, and later will lead the graduates in singing the alma mater and the national anthem.
Herbert began his official duties as the 17th president of Indiana University on Aug. 1. Previously, he was Regents Professor and executive director of the Florida Center for Public Policy and Leadership at the University of North Florida for two years. From 1998 to 2001, Herbert was chancellor of Florida's state university system, the second-largest university system in the nation. Before that, from 1989 to 1998, he served as president of the University of North Florida.
Herbert also has taught and held leadership positions at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Howard University, the University of Southern California's Washington Public Affairs Center and Florida International University.
A native of Muskogee, Okla., Herbert earned a bachelor's degree in political science (1966) and a master's degree in public administration (1967) from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. degree in urban affairs and public administration from the University of Pittsburgh (1971).
