MOUNT VERNON -- To close its sesquicentennial celebration, Cornell College will confer degrees on 211 students at commencement on Saturday, May 29, at 1:30 p.m. in the Richard and Norma Small Multi-Sport Center.
Each graduate will wear a 2-inch-wide medallion featuring the college's sesquicentennial logo and hung from a ribbon of purple and white, the school colors.
Rich Martin, professor of English, will be the faculty speaker. Laura Arnold of Vienna, Va., will deliver the senior address. She is graduating with a bachelor of arts in English, with minors in philosophy and women's studies.
Gordon Urquhart, economics and business professor, and Richard Peters, education professor, will receive faculty emeriti status. Urquhart is retiring after 20 years at Cornell, Peters after 16.
Saturday events begin at 9 a.m. with a baccalaureate service in King Chapel. The Rev. Catherine Quehl-Engel, college chaplain, will deliver the sermon. Seniors' words of thanksgiving for family, friends and mentors will be read at the service.
Cornell's Delta of Iowa chapter of Phi Beta Kappa will hold a reception at 10:30 a.m. in Cole Library. Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and most widely respected academic honor society in the United States. There are 270 chapters in the United States, including seven in Iowa.
After a buffet luncheon from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Cornell seniors, faculty and administrators will assemble at 12:45 p.m. in the Multi-Sport Center for the traditional academic procession that begins the 1:30 p.m. commencement ceremony. The public is invited.
