University of Richmond to Hold 172nd Commencement May 5, Law and Continuing Studies Ceremonies May 4
April 26, 2002
University of Richmond will hold its 172nd commencement ceremonies May 5 at 2 p.m. in the Robins Center, where 697 seniors and 81 graduate students will receive degrees.
The university's schools of law and continuing studies will award degrees at separate ceremonies the previous day, also at the Robins Center. A baccalaureate service for all graduates will be held May 5 at 10 a.m. in the Robins Center, with University Chaplain David D. Burhans as speaker.
Alumna Melanie P. Healey, an executive of Procter & Gamble, and Timothy P. Sullivan, a senior from Hanover, Mass., will speak at the main graduation ceremony, inaugurating a policy of inviting alumni and current students to address the graduates.
Sullivan, immediate past president of Richmond College Student Government Association, won a competition that determined the student speaker. He will receive a bachelor of arts degree as a triple major in leadership studies, political science and rhetoric and communications studies. He was recently voted the most significant contributor award of the class of 2002. He also was named leader of the year by Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society for Virginia and North Carolina and was a finalist for ODK national leader of the year.
Healey, a 1983 Richmond graduate, is vice president-feminine care North America global business unit for Procter & Gamble. Before joining Proctor and Gamble in 1990, she was University of Richmond brand manager with S.C. Johnson & Sons in Brazil and brand manager and marketing manager for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Division, also in Brazil.
The School of Continuing Studies commencement will take place May 4 at 9:30 a.m., when 106 students will receive degrees. Khristian A. Molchan, a bachelor's degree candidate, will speak. Molchan is a sergeant and crime prevention coordinator with the University of Richmond Police Department. Distinguished faculty and distinguished alumnus award winners will be announced.
Law alumnus William Kenneth Slate II will speak to 143 law school graduates May 4 at at 2 p.m. Slate is president and CEO of the American Arbitration Association, the largest conflict management organization in the world, and a former executive director and COO of the Virginia State Bar.
Receiving an honorary doctor of science degree will be Russell A. Barkley, professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Richmond alumni David Ting Kwok Ho and Marcus M. Weinstein will receive honorary doctor of commercial science degrees.
Barkley, who lives in Westborough, Mass. is the author or co-author of 15 books, including "Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete Authoritative Guide for Parents." Ho, of Vancouver, British Columbia, is chairman and CEO of David T.K. Ho Enterprises Ltd. Weinstein, a resident of Richmond, is chairman of Weinstein Management Company, a real estate business that owns and operates shopping centers, office parks and apartment complexes in Richmond and several other Virginia cities.
The university will award Presidential Medals to Martha Carpenter and Lewis T. Booker. Presidential Medals are given to those "who have rendered exceptional and meritorious service to the University, the nation or the world."
Carpenter is an alumna, member of Richmond's board of trustees and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville. Booker is senior counsel with Virginia's largest law firm, Hunton & Williams, and a substitute district judge for the Commonwealth's 13th Judicial District. He is an alumnus and trustee who served three terms as rector (chairman of the university's board of trustees).
Richard A. Mateer, who is retiring as dean of Richmond College after 36 years of service to the university, and Robert L. Burrus Jr., rector of the board of trustees, will receive Trustees' Distinguished Service Awards.
D. Chris Withers, who is retiring as vice president of advancement after 32 years at the university, received the Trustees' Distinguished Service Award at a retirement dinner on April 18, and alumnus Georg Gerson Iggers, author, historian and survivor of Nazi persecution, received an honorary doctor of letters degree in October.