May 20, 2004
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417
AMHERST, Mass.-Amherst College will grant bachelor of arts degrees to 427 members of the Class of 2004 at Commencement Exercises on Sunday, May 23, at 10 a.m. in the Main Quadrangle. (Exercises will be held in LeFrak Gymnasium in the event of rain.) Amherst President Anthony W. Marx, who took office last July, will give the address. Matthew M. Murumba '04 from Brooklyn, N.Y. has been chosen by his classmates to speak.
Honorary degrees will also be awarded at the ceremony to Rafael Campo '87, poet and physician; Albert O. Hirschman, political economist; Donald McM. Routh '58, former dean of financial aid at Amherst and at Yale University; Kate Seelye '84, broadcast journalist; Theda Skocpol, sociologist and political scientist; Robert Trivers, sociobiologist; and Jeffrey Wright '87, stage and screen actor.
The college will honor John S. Middleton '77 with the Medal for Eminent Service. The honorary marshal is H. Jay Sarles '67.
At Senior Class Exercises on Saturday, May 22, at 2 p.m. Dipayan Gupta from New Delhi, Annie MacRae from New York City, Lincoln Mayer from Alexandria, Va., and Brian Carlyle Stout from Ashland, Ore., will offer remarks. The recipients of honorary degrees will speak at 3:30 p.m. at various locations around campus; Kate Seelye will deliver an address at Class Day Exercises at 2 p.m.
The college will award prizes at Senior Class Exercises, and present Phebe and Zephaniah Swift Moore Awards to secondary school teachers Richard Delgado, a chemistry and general science teacher from Vallejo High School in Vallejo, Calif., nominated by Erin Kirkham '04; Nydia Benitez-Nee, a counselor at Newburgh Free Academy in Newburgh, N.Y., nominated by Katyuska Eibenstiner '04; and David Taylor, a science teacher at Triton Regional High School in Byfield, Mass., nominated by Jason Cavatorta '04.
###