ADRIAN COLLEGE SPRING COMMENCEMENT SCHEDULED posted 4/21/05

A total of 169 students are scheduled to take part in Adrian College’s spring commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 1, at 3 p.m. in the Merillat Sport & Fitness Center. The traditional Baccalaureate ceremony is scheduled in the Adrian College Chapel at 10:30 a.m.

Stephen T. Gray will give the commencement address, “Where the Media Ends – and You Begin.” Gray is managing publisher of The Christian Science Monitor, a Pulitzer-Prize winning newspaper with a national and global distribution. Before working there, Gray spent 25 years at the Monroe Evening News, a newspaper his family founded. His family has a long history with Adrian College.

At the ceremony Gray will receive an honorary degree, Doctor of Letters. William H. Liebold, II, president of the Michigan Colleges Foundation, will also receive an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws. The Michigan Colleges Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that serves as a link between 14 independent, liberal arts colleges in Michigan and the state’s corporate and foundation communities.

Following the conferral of degrees, the College will hold its Cane Ceremony, an Adrian College tradition dating back to 1875. During the ceremony, the graduating class presents the College’s beloved Shepherd’s Crook to the undergraduates as a symbol of achievement and a transfer of responsibility. Before passing the crook, the president of the graduating class attaches a ribbon bearing the name of each class member.

Adrian College, located in southeast Michigan, is a private liberal arts college related to The United Methodist Church. Established in 1859, it has a long tradition of providing educational opportunities to students from a wide range of backgrounds.