MOUNT VERNON — Cornell College will confer degrees on 248 students at commencement on Saturday, June 3, at 1:30 p.m. in the Richard and Norma Small Multi-Sport Center.
Christina McOmber, associate professor of art, will give the faculty address, “Apples and Knowledge: The Care and Feeding of the Adult Human.” Her talk will stress how fostering a caring environment encourages intellectual growth, with references to artists Michelangelo, Jackson Pollock and Frida Kahlo.
Mark Gordon of Albuquerque, N.M., who is graduating with a triple major in Spanish, politics and psychology, will be the senior class speaker.
English professor Rich Martin and religion professor Charles Vernoff will receive emeriti status. Martin is retiring after 36 years of service. Vernoff is retiring after 28 years at Cornell.
Saturday events begin at 9 a.m. with a baccalaureate service in King Chapel. Father 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.
