Commencement scheduled for May 10 and 11
An astronaut, a philanthropist and a judge are among those who will take part in the University’s commencement ceremonies May 10 and 11.
Approximately 684 baccalaureate degrees and 40 graduate degrees will be awarded May 11 at 2 p.m. in the Robins Center.
Commencement ceremonies for the School of Continuing Studies and Richmond School of Law will take place May 10 in the Robins Center at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively. The law school will award 165 J.D. degrees, and SCS will present 87 associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. SCS also will present the Gibb Family Distinguished Alumni Award, the Itzkowitz Family Distinguished Faculty Award and the Jean Proffitt Student Service Award, among others.
Leland Melvin, ’86, an astronaut who completed his first mission in space in February, will be the alumni speaker May 11. Viola Baskerville of Richmond will receive an honorary degree.
Mary Bitterman, president of the Bernard Osher Foundation, will speak and receive an honorary degree at the SCS graduation, and Henry E. Hudson, a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, will speak at the law school graduation.
Student speakers will be Eric Van Der Hyde of Chatham, Va., at the main commencement, Erica Coleman of Woodberry Forest, Va., at the candlelight ceremony and Khalil Graham of Brooklyn, N.Y., at baccalaureate.
Robert Rigsby, R’71, will receive the Trustees’ Distinguished Service Award at the May 11 ceremony. It is presented in recognition of selfless dedication and service to the University.
At Richmond, Melvin earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry while playing football for the Spiders. After joining the NFL’s Detroit Lions, a hamstring injury sent the second team Academic All-American on a new journey. He received his master’s degree in materials science engineering from the University of Virginia in 1991, went to work at NASA and in 1998, joined the astronaut corps.
Baskerville received a bachelor’s degree from The College of William and Mary and a law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law. She serves as Virginia Secretary of Administration and is the second African-American and the only African-American female member of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s cabinet.
Rigsby graduated from Richmond with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He received M.S. and M.B.A. degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and completed the Executive Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He is the retired president and chief operating officer of the Dominion Delivery business unit of Dominion Resources that includes Dominion Virginia Power and other companies. He joined the University of Richmond Board of Trustees in 1997 and will conclude his current term in June. In 2002, he established the Rigsby Fellow in Economics in the Robins School of Business, which supports a distinguished economics scholar.
Bitterman received a B.A. from Santa Clara University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Bryn Mawr College. She is president of The Bernard Osher Foundation, which recently provided a $1 million endowment for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University. Bitterman is a director and chair of the Public Broadcasting Service. She previously served as president and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation and as president and CEO of KQED, one of the leading public broadcasting centers in the United States.
Hudson received a B.A. in 1969 and a J.D. in 1974, both from American University. A U.S. district court judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, he has been an assistant U.S. attorney, head of the U.S. Marshall Service and a circuit court judge in Fairfax, Va. He was nominated by President George W. Bush to the U.S. District Court and was confirmed by the Senate in 2002. He has overseen a number of high profile cases, including the dogfighting charges against former NFL star Michael Vick.