The University of Rochester will hold its 154th Commencement for graduates in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering at 9 a.m. Sunday, May 16, on the Eastman Quadrangle on the River Campus.

Barry Meyer, chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc., will be the commencement speaker and will receive the Hutchison Medal, the University’s highest award for alumni. Acclaimed author Andrea Barrett and Arunas Chesonis, chairman and chief executive officer of PAETEC Communications Inc., will both receive honorary degrees and also will make remarks to the audience.

Bachelor's and master's degree candidates in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences also will hear from Richard C. Palermo, Sr., executive vice president and chief consulting officer at Strategic Triangle, Inc., a management consultant firm. Palermo will receive the School's Distinguished Alumnus Award during the School's 2:30 p.m. Sunday ceremony in Eastman Theatre.

In addition, other divisions with separate commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 16, are:

  • School of Nursing: 11 a.m., River Road Auditorium.

  • Eastman School of Music: 11:15 a.m., Eastman Theatre.

  • Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development: 11:15 a.m., Interfaith Chapel on the River Campus.

Divisions holding individual commencement ceremonies on additional dates are:

  • School of Medicine and Dentistry, for M.D. graduates: 11 a.m. Sunday, May 9, Eastman Theatre.

  • School of Medicine and Dentistry, for master’s degree candidates: 4 p.m. Thursday, May 13, Adolph Auditorium, Room 1-7619 at the Medical Center.

  • Doctoral candidates from all divisions: 10 a.m. Saturday, May 15, Eastman Theatre.

  • William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration: 10 a.m. Sunday, June 13, Eastman Theatre.

Highlights by Ceremony:

College Commencement

Hutchison Medal recipient Barry Meyer ’64, one of the most respected executives in the entertainment industry, became chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc. in 1999 after having served as the studio’s executive vice president and chief operating officer since April 1994. Meyer joined the company in 1971 as business affairs director for the television division, following two-and-a-half years in both the legal and business affairs departments of ABC Television Network. Meyer often serves as a key advisor on industry-wide production, labor, and regulatory issues. He received his law degree from Case Western Reserve University.

Andrea Barrett, who will receive an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1996 for her story collection Ship Fever. She also has written five novels and a second collection of short stories. Barrett makes her home in Rochester and teaches in the Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. She has been a visiting writer at colleges and universities and a faculty member of numerous writers’ conferences, including the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and the highly esteemed MacArthur Fellowship.

Arunas Chesonis, who will receive an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws, co-founded PAETEC Communications in Rochester in 1998. One of the fastest growing telecommunications companies in the nation, the company offers services in 27 markets and has more than 900 employees. Prior to forming PAETEC, Chesonis served as president of ACC Corp. A recipient of Rochester Area Community Foundation’s Philanthropy Award, Chesonis has served on the boards of the Genesee Valley Trust Co., Compeer Inc., and the Humane Society of Monroe County. He received his MBA from the Simon School in 1991.

Also at the College ceremony, Curt Signorino, assistant professor of political science and director of the Peter D. Watson Center for Conflict and Cooperation, will receive the G. Graydon ’58 and Jane W. Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Nontenured Member of the Faculty. He has taught courses in political methodology and international conflict at the University since 1997.

There are 969 candidates for a bachelor’s degree and 248 candidates for a master’s degree in the College.

School of Nursing Commencement Ceremony

Linda M. Janczak, president and chief executive officer of Thompson Health in Canandaigua, is the commencement speaker.

There are 80 candidates for a bachelor’s degree and 43 candidates for a master’s degree in the School of Nursing.

Eastman School of Music Commencement Ceremony

Mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle, who received her master of music degree from Eastman in 1966, will be the speaker. Her performance and recording credits include the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, the Washington Opera, the Seattle Opera, and L’Opera de Montreal, as well as numerous Broadway productions.

There are 103 candidates for a bachelor’s degree and 114 candidates for a master’s degree from the Eastman School.

Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development Commencement Ceremony

Lynn Gatto, who was named New York State’s “Teacher of the Year” for 2004, will deliver the commencement address. A doctoral student in the Warner School, Gatto teaches at Henry Hudson Elementary School in the Rochester City School District.

Seventy candidates are to receive their master’s degrees from the Warner School.

School of Medicine and Dentistry M.D. Commencement Ceremony

Nobel Prize-winning cancer researcher Harold Varmus will be the commencement speaker and will receive an honorary degree, Doctor of Science. A former director of the National Institutes of Health, Varmus is president and chief executive officer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

There will be 103 M.D. degrees awarded by the School of Medicine and Dentistry.

School of Medicine and Dentistry Master’s Degree Commencement

Dr. Robert J. Joynt, former vice president and vice provost for health affairs at the University, will speak. He is also former dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry and past chair of the Department of Neurology, and holds the title of Distinguished University Professor.

There are 95 candidates for master’s degrees from the medical school.

Doctoral Degree Ceremony for all divisions

W. Jackson Hall, who joined the University in 1969 as professor and chair of the Department of Statistics, will receive the inaugural Lifetime Achievement in Graduate Education Award. Previously, he taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at Stanford University. Hall is professor emeritus of statistics in the College and professor of biostatistics at the medical school.

Arie Bodek, professor and chair of the Department of Physics, will receive the University Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching. Bodek joined the University as an assistant professor in 1977. He is the recipient of the American Physical Society’s W. K. H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics. He is also highly active in physics education and science outreach activities.

The Distinguished Scholar Award, given to doctoral graduates who have gone on to distinguished careers in academia, industry, or government, will be presented to Kevin Campbell and Siddhartha Dalal. An investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Iowa and a leading researcher in the field of muscle physiology and disease, Campbell received his master’s and his doctorate in biophysics from the University. Dalal received a master’s in business administration and a doctorate in statistics at Rochester. He is vice president and center manager for the Imaging and Services Technology Center at Xerox and the recipient of awards from the American Statistical Association and American Society for Quality.

A total of 214 doctoral degrees will be awarded at the Saturday morning ceremony.

William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration Commencement

Muriel Siebert, the first woman member of the New York Stock Exchange and a former superintendent of banking for New York State, will be the commencement speaker at the June ceremony and will receive an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws.

Additional information is available at the Commencement 2004 page at http://www.rochester.edu/commencement/index.html