May 19 2009
It will be an "all-green" event when Mount Holyoke College celebrates its 172nd commencement and confers 600 degrees on Sunday, May 24. The College will host the president of the Emerald Isle as its commencement speaker; the class of 2009 color is green; and the MHC community has committed itself to an environmentally-friendly, green weekend.
Mary McAleese, the eighth president of Ireland, will deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree. Honorary degrees will also be presented to Princess Lolowah al-Faisal al Saud, founder of Effat University, the first private university for women in Saudi Arabia, and Clare Waterman '89, chief of the Laboratory of Cell and Tissue Morphodynamics at the National Institute of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Caitlin M. Healey '09 of Manchester, New Hampshire, has been chosen to give the senior address.
Bachelor degrees will be awarded to 572 seniors, including 36 Frances Perkins Scholars. One master's degree, three postbaccalaureate certificates, and 24 certificates for international students will also be awarded. Those receiving diplomas include two truly senior seniors from the Frances Perkins program: 82-year-old Luora Webb of Springfield, Mass., and 71-year-old Joyce Holt of Reading, Mass. The commencement procession will begin at 10 a.m., and the commencement ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Gettell Amphitheater.
To enhance its ongoing efforts to reduce its impact on the environment, the College has launched various new initiatives this year in its Green Commencement program. (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/ce/22588.shtml) Among other things, the use of printed materials has been substantially reduced; students have raised enough funds to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) for the entire commencement weekend; and compostable bioware will be used at selected events. The Green Commencement Website even features a carbon calculator for campus visitors to estimate how much carbon dioxide they have emitted traveling to campus. (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/ce/22852.shtml)
Two of the College's most cherished and time-honored commencement traditions will take place Saturday, May 23: In the alumnae parade and laurel chain ceremony, members of the class of 2009 – dressed in white and carrying a garland chain – will be led by alumnae in a procession to founder Mary Lyon's grave. The graduates wear white for the parade to commemorate the standard dress of early 20th-century suffragettes campaigning for the right to vote. Once assembled around the grave site, students will sing James Oppenheim's "Bread and Roses," a song about the suffering of women in the historic Lawrence textile mills strike of 1912. Both the dress and song symbolize Mount Holyoke's close association with efforts to advance women's rights.
The second tradition is the canoe sing, which began in 1911. It will follow an evening Baccalaureate service in Abbey Chapel and will take place on the campus' Lower Lake, where 12 canoes, illuminated by lanterns, will carry selected seniors to Upper Lake while they and classmates along the banks sing songs in celebration of commencement.
President McAleese will speak at the College as part of a visit to western Massachusetts organized with the support of Congressman Richard Neal, a leading Bay State political figure and trustee of Mount Holyoke. For biographical information on the honorary degree recipients, see: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/news/channels/22/stories/5681253
This year also marks the first time Mount Holyoke will broadcast its commencement via the Web. Live streaming of the event will begin shortly before the commencement procession steps off at 10 am. Web viewers will need Adobe Flash Player version 9 or higher and a high-speed Internet connection to watch the event on their computers. The URL to connect is http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/livecommencement
For more information, visit: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/news/channels/22