2,400 students to receive degrees

Approximately 2,399 degrees will be presented at today's commencement ceremonies. The undergraduate class of 2003 will graduate 1,365 students in addition to 1,034 from Tufts' graduate schools.

Margaret Marshall, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, will give the keynote speech, entitled "Different Voices, Uncommon Questions: Democratic Values in the 21st Century."

The all-University commencement ceremony, the 147th in school history, as well as the degree presentations for students in the College of Liberal Arts, Jackson College, School of Engineering, College of Special Studies, and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, will take place on a stage in front of Bendetson Hall.

Four honorary degrees will also be presented at the ceremony. Marshall will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Arthur Mitchell, a pioneer in opening the world of dance to African-Americans and Ambassador for the Arts for the United States, will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree.

Nobel Prize-winning chemist and MIT professor Mario Molina, whose work focuses on air pollution, will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree. Pharmaceutical executive Agnes Varis, who has campaigned for affordable pharmaceuticals and animal welfare, in addition to endowing the Agnes Varis University Chair in Science and Society at Tufts, will be given an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree.

"I am honored that Tufts and its trustees accept my life's accomplishments as my dissertation for awarding me their highest honor," Varis said. Varis's efforts for social causes and her work within her field merit the honor, she said, "rather than [her] contributions to Tufts."

As the winner of this year's Wendell Phillips Award, graduating senior Elaine Wang will be the only student to speak at the commencement ceremony. Though her speech will draw on her four years at Tufts, Wang said "it's a very international relations-oriented speech." The main theme will be "privilege and human responsibility in today's current state of affairs."

"I'm hoping that it's one that will make people laugh... and feel inspired," Wang said of her speech. Being allowed to speak at commencement, she said, "definitely makes it that much more of an honor to be graduating."

The number of graduating undergraduates includes 200 from the School of Engineering, 67 receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College of Special Studies, 918 receiving a Bachelor of Arts, and 180 receiving a Bachelor of Science.

Approximately 279 graduate students will receive degrees from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and from the School of Engineering.

The main ceremony will be followed by the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy ceremony on Fletcher Field. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohammed el Baradei, who oversaw arms inspections in Iraq with UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission Chairman Hans Blix, will address Fletcher graduates. Fletcher will award approximately 162 degrees.

The School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences will hold their ceremonies in the Gantcher Sports and Convocation Center. About 196 graduates will receive degrees from the School of Medicine, and 27 will receive degrees from the Sackler School.

The School of Dental Medicine ceremony will take place on the Residential Quad, and approximately 219 degrees will be presented.

The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy will award its approximately 62 degrees in the Balch Arena Theater and Alumnae Lounge in Aidekman Arts Center.

The School of Veterinary Medicine ceremony will be on the Grafton campus. Approximately 89 degrees will be presented.