By Dave O'Brien
Record-Courier staff writer
A former U.S. ambassador, a million-dollar university benefactor and two businessmen will impart their advice on new college graduates this spring, while an award-winning musician, an innovator in liquid crystals and a political scientist and administrator will receive honorary doctorates and a medal during commencement ceremonies at Kent State University and Hiram College this coming weekend.
KSU's three ceremonies will take place Saturday and May 11 to accommodate the large number of graduates. At 10 a.m. Saturday, Mark Mothersbaugh, a four-time Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated musician and composer, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Mothersbaugh, who attended KSU as an art major from 1968 to 1973, co-founded the band Devo while at KSU and is senior composer for Mutato Muzika in Los Angeles.
KSU benefactor Roe Green of Aurora, a KSU graduate, will give the commencement speech to graduates of the colleges of Architecture and Environmental Design, the Arts, Education, Health and Human Services at the ceremony. The Roe Green Foundation made a $6.5 million gift to the university's School of Theatre and Dance in 2005.
Saturday's 2 p.m. ceremony for graduates of the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Nursing will feature Jun H. Souk, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics' liquid crystal display operations. Souk also will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from KSU.
On May 11, ceremonies for graduates of the colleges of Business Administration, Communication and Information and Technology will begin at 10 a.m. William Oliver, vice president of AT&T, will deliver the commencement address. Former KSU faculty member and executive officer Gordon Keller, a retired political science faculty member and executive head of regional campuses from 1980 to 2001, will receive the President's Medal.
All Kent campus ceremonies will take place in the MAC Center. Ceremonies for all of KSU's seven regional campuses are Friday. For more information, visit the Web site kentstate.kent.edu/ecalendar/calendar.asp or call (330) 672-2235.
Philip Lader, former United States ambassador and assistant to former President Clinton, will deliver the 2008 Hiram College commencement speech at 2 p.m. on the campus green. Lader was U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland from 1997 to 2001, and he held several positions in Clinton's cabinet and administration. He later served as president of Winthrop University in South Carolina and Bond University, Australia's first private university.
Commencement events at the University of Akron also will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. May 11. University president Luis Proenza will deliver commencement addresses at the Saturday afternoon and Sunday ceremonies, while three men -- Roy Church, president of Lorain County Community College, alumnus and former Board of Trustees chairman Donald Demkee, and alumnus Richard Hansford, dean emeritus of student services -- will receive honorary degrees.