University of Richmond to Hold 173rd Commencement May 4, Law and Continuing Studies Ceremonies May 3
April 10, 2003
University of Richmond will hold its 173rd commencement ceremonies May 4 at 2 p.m. in the Robins Center, where 779 seniors and 101 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 4 at 10 a.m. in the Robins Center, with an address by Amy-Jill Levine, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies and director of the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender and Sexuality at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion.
Alumnus Robert S. Jepson Jr. and Jessica Aber, a senior from Henderson, Nev., will speak at the main graduation ceremony, continuing a policy begun last year of inviting alumni and graduating seniors to address graduates.
Aber is a political science and criminal justice major who is immediate past chair of the Westhampton College Honor Council. She won a competition that determined the student speaker.
Jepson is chairman and CEO of Jepson Associates Inc. of Savannah, Ga., a private investment firm he established in 1989. He received a bachelor of science in business administration degree in 1964 and a master of commerce degree in 1975 - both from the University of Richmond. In 1987, the university awarded him an honorary doctor of commercial science degree. Jepson is a member of the University of Richmond Board of Trustees, which he previously served as a member from 1992-96. His gift of $20 million to the university established the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Jepson will receive the Presidential Medal, given to those "who have rendered exceptional and meritorious service to the university, the nation or the world."
The university will award honorary bachelor of letters degrees to approximately 50 veterans, former students who left the university to serve in the military during World War II and were unable to complete their educations at Richmond. At least half of them are expected to march into the Robins Center and receive their diplomas during the main commencement ceremony.
The School of Continuing Studies commencement will take place May 3 at 9:30 a.m., when 149 students will receive degrees or certificates. Paul E. Galanti (USN-Ret.), who received a master of commerce degree from the university in 1976, will be the speaker as the school concludes its year-long 40th anniversary celebration. A prisoner of war with U.S. Sen. John McCain in North Vietnam's infamous Hanoi Hilton for nearly seven years, Galanti is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who flew 97 combat missions before being shot down. Since retiring from the Navy in 1983, Galanti has served as executive director of Virginia Pharmaceutical Association, CEO of Medical Society of Virginia and executive director of Science Museum of Virginia Foundation. He is currently marketing and external affairs director of Eye-Q, a web application developer.
The school will graduate its first class from Public Safety University, a degree completion program established by Richmond area public safety agencies. Students complete their bachelor's education in return for a service commitment to their employers.
Law alumnus Harvey E. Schlesinger, judge of the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, will speak to 145 law school graduates May 3 at 2 p.m. Schlesinger received his law degree in 1965. In 1991, President George Bush appointed him to the federal court following his career as corporate counsel for Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, chief assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, U.S. magistrate judge and adjunct professor at the University of North Florida. He is the recipient of the law school's William Green Award for professional excellence.
Receiving honorary doctor of commercial science degrees will be John W. Snow, U.S. treasury secretary and former chairman, president and CEO of CSX Corp., and Myron T. Mann, a 1971 graduate of the university from Sydney, Australia, CEO of Lewis Mann Holdings Pty Ltd., a mergers and acquisitions firm specializing in the textile industry. Levine, the baccalaureate speaker, will receive a doctor of divinity degree. She is author of numerous publications, including "Jewish-Christian Relations" and "Sexuality, Gender and the Bible."
For more information on this year's commencement ceremonies, visit oncampus.richmond.edu/commencement/.