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G.E.'s Immelt '78 to Address Graduates
Jeffrey R. Immelt '78, chairman of the board and CEO of General Electric Company, is Dartmouth's keynote speaker at commencement this year. Immelt is often recognized for successfully navigating his company through the turbulent and changing corporate environment of the last three years. Last year,
Financial Times named him "Man of the Year." Immelt will receive a doctor of laws from Dartmouth at commencement.
Eight other individuals also will be honored at commencement:
- Rebecca L. Adamson, founder and president of First Nations Development Institute and founder of First Peoples Worldwide, will receive a doctor of humane letters. Adamson has been an advocate for indigenous peoples around the world since 1970.
- Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake, will receive a doctor of letters. Atwood won the prestigious Booker Prize for her 2000 novel The Blind Assassin.
- Lo-Yi Chan '54, architect, will receive a doctor of arts. Chan's award-winning projects include the Sackler Museum at Peking University, the Sever Hall restoration at Harvard University, and the Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth.
- Philippe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will receive a doctor of arts. Under de Montebello's leadership, the museum has constantly reinforced its stature as one of the world's great resources for the preservation, appreciation, and encouragement of art.
- Norman C. Francis, president of Xavier University of Louisiana (New Orleans), will receive a doctor of laws. Francis, the first African-American lay president of the university, has provided leadership for civil rights, educational, civic, and religious organizations throughout his career.
- Richard M. Page '54, who, before retiring, became a leader in the insurance brokerage and financial services fields, will receive a doctor of laws. A former Dartmouth trustee, Page is a current trustee of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic.
- Janet D. Rowley, a leading cancer researcher and Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Medicine, in Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and in Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, will receive a doctor of science.
- Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse Foundation, will receive a doctor of arts. Waters is an advocate for sound, sustainable agriculture as well as a cookbook author and owner of restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif.
Graduation ceremonies around campus will feature the following guest speakers:
- Judah Folkman, the Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, at Dartmouth Medical School,
- Rita R. Colwell, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and chairman of Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc., at Thayer School of Engineering,
- Donald K. Peterson Tu'73, chairman and CEO of Avaya Inc. and a Tuck School of Business overseer, at the Tuck School,
- Diana L. Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Harvard Divinity School, at Baccalaureate.
The College expects to award approximately 1,000 bachelor's degrees and 500 master's and doctoral degrees this year.
- By Roland Adams
