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Last modified: Wednesday, April 29, 2009

IU to hold commencements May 9 through May 15

EDITOR'S NOTE: AS OF TODAY, ALL UNIVERSITY ACTIVITIES ARE OPERATING AS NORMAL. HOWEVER, UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS CONTINUE TO MONITOR RECOMMENDATIONS FROM STATE AND FEDERAL ENTITIES REGARDING THE NORTH AMERICAN HUMAN INFLUENZA A (SWINE FLU). IF PEOPLE EXPECTING TO ATTEND COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES ON ANY IU CAMPUS HAVE QUESTIONS REGARDING SCHEDULING STATUS, CONTINUOUS UPDATES ARE AVAILABLE AT HTTP://WWW.INDIANAUNIVERSITY.INFO/.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University President Michael McRobbie will preside over May commencement ceremonies at eight campuses where a total of 16,901 students are eligible to receive IU degrees. Commencement week begins on May 9 (Saturday) at IU Bloomington and concludes on May 15 at IU East in Richmond (Friday).

Diplomas

Print-Quality Photo

At IU Bloomington, in the campus's 180th graduation ceremony, Justice Michael Kirby, an acclaimed human-rights advocate who recently retired from the Australian High Court, will present the commencement address on May 9, where he also will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. The Bloomington campus will award 7,358 degrees during two ceremonies in Assembly Hall. The morning ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. and the afternoon ceremony at 3 p.m.

There also are 1,838 Purdue University degrees to be conferred on IU campuses, mostly in separate ceremonies. IU commencement information and the number of graduates eligible for degrees at each, including Purdue University degrees awarded on campuses that have Purdue programs, are:

  • Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, May 10 (Sunday), 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. in Halls A-B-C of the Indiana Convention Center. Degrees will be awarded to 5,926 students, including 4,869 from IU and 930 from Purdue. The overall total number also includes graduates from the IU Columbus campus, where there are 105 IU graduates and 22 Purdue graduates.
  • IU Southeast, May 11 (Monday), 4 p.m. at the Ogle Center Amphitheater. Degrees will be awarded to 1,086 students, including 1,042 from IU and 44 from Purdue.
  • IU Kokomo, May 12 (Tuesday), 10:30 a.m. to the east of the IU Kokomo Library. In case of rain, two ceremonies will be held in Havens Auditorium at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Degrees will be awarded to 556 students, 525 from IU and 31 from Purdue.
  • IU South Bend, May 12 (Tuesday), 6 p.m. in the Joyce Center at the University of Notre Dame. Degrees will be awarded to 962 students, 932 from IU and 30 from Purdue.
  • Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, May 13 (Wednesday), 7 p.m. in Fort Wayne's Memorial Coliseum. Degrees will be awarded to 1,706 students, including 946 from IU and 760 from Purdue.
  • IU Northwest, May 14 (Thursday), at 4 p.m. CDT at the Genesis Center in Gary. Degrees will be awarded to 827 IU students.
  • IU East, May 15 (Friday), at 6 p.m. in the Tiernan Center at Richmond High School. Degrees will be awarded to 318 students, 297 from IU and 21 from Purdue.

For Bloomington, the number of graduates includes degree candidates for May, June and August, and graduate students whose degrees have been or will be awarded on a monthly basis from January 2009 to July 2009. For other campuses, the figures include degree recipients from December 2008 and candidates for May, June and August 2009. Those numbers also include graduate students whose degrees have been or will be awarded during the 2008-09 academic year.

Honorary Degrees

Two Indiana University honorary degrees will be conferred at commencement ceremonies on two campuses this spring. Additionally, Purdue University will confer two honorary degrees at the IUPUI ceremony.

At IU Bloomington, commencement speaker Justice Michael Kirby will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Kirby, who recently retired from the Australian High Court, is an acclaimed human-rights advocate. Read more about Kirby in a recent IU news release.

At IUPUI, three people will receive honorary degrees, one from Indiana University and two from Purdue University.

  • Donald Gummer will receive from Indiana University an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Gummer is a graduate of Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, and attended Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI. He is a master sculptor whose work "Southern Circle" and "Reunion" stand at Meridian Street Plaza in Indianapolis and on the campus of IUPUI, respectively.
  • Also, Gerald Bepko will receive from Purdue University a Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree. Bepko has been an instructor and administrator at IUPUI for 37 years. From 1986 to 2002, he was chancellor of IUPUI, and during his tenure, IUPUI expanded its school total from 14 to 23. In his last year as an administrator, he served as interim president of Indiana University.
  • Wayne Eckerle will receive a Doctor of Engineering honorary degree from Purdue University during IUPUI commencement ceremonies. Eckerle, who graduated from Purdue in 1975 and 1976, has distinguished himself as an innovator within the field of engineering. He currently is vice president of corporate research and technology at Cummins, Inc.

There will be a live (and archival) steam of both IU Bloomington ceremonies at www.broadcast.iu.edu.