Baccalaureate

Overview

The Baccalaureate service seems to have originated in a 1432 Oxford University statute, which required each bachelor to deliver a sermon in Latin as part of his academic exercise. Because the earliest universities in this country were founded primarily to educate ministers, the British practice of a Baccalaureate Service was continued.

At Dartmouth, it was an integral part of Senior Week until Commencement itself was moved from Wednesday, when it had historically occurred, to Sunday, at which time it absorbed the Baccalaureate. This change occurred in 1939 to conform to weekend customs of the outside world.

Today, the Baccalaureate service is an multi-faith occasion of thanksgiving and celebration for the completion of the undergraduate and graduate careers. The service is intended to incorporate a variety of traditions, languages, and perspectives.

Campus ministers and advisors representing many of the religious traditions and student religious organizations at Dartmouth join the selected speakers on the dais. Also on the dais are representatives from the Dean of the Faculty and the Dean of the College offices.

The following are Word documents.

Dartmouth College Baccalaureate 2003. Fanaticism, Faith and a Third Way. by Fleming Rutledge

Baccalaureate Prayer by Paul Feeney, Orthodox Campus Minister

What does life amount to? Richard R. Crocker, Ph.D., College Chaplain

2013 Baccalaureate Speaker

June 8, 2013 
3:00 PM
Rollins Chapel

The Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson IX Bishop of New Hampshire, Retired

V. Gene Robinson was elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire on June 7, 2003, having served as Canon to the Ordinary (Assistant to the Bishop) for nearly 18 years. He was consecrated a Bishop on All Saints Sunday, November 2, 2003, was invested as the Ninth Bishop of New Hampshire on March 7, 2004 and retired as Bishop of New Hampshire on January 5, 2013.

A 1969 graduate of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, he has a B.A. in American Studies/History. In 1973, he completed the M.Div. degree at the General Theological Seminary in New York, was ordained deacon, and then priest, serving the church in various capacities until becoming Canon to the Ordinary in 1985.

Co-author of three AIDS education curricula for youth and adults, Gene has done AIDS work in the United States and in Africa (Uganda and South Africa). He has been an advocate for anti-racism training in the diocese and wider Church.  He helped build the Diocese of New Hampshire's close working partnership with the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, advocated for debt relief for the world's most impoverished nations, and lobbied for socially-responsible investments within and beyond the Church. He holds three honorary doctorates and has received numerous awards from national civil rights organizations.

His story is featured in the 2007 feature-length documentary, "For the Bible Tells Me So." In 2008 Gene's book In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God (Seabury Books, New York) was released. He is the subject of "Love Free or Die," another feature-length documentary, which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The Bishop's latest book, God Believes in Love: Straight Talk about Gay Marriage, was published by Alfred Knopf in the fall of 2012.

Bishop Robinson has been active particularly in the area of full civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.  Working at the state, national and international levels, he has spoken and lobbied for equal protection under the law and full civil marriage rights. He has been honored by many LGBT organizations for this work, including the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, GLAD, NH Civil Liberties Union, GLAAD and the Equality Forum.

Bishop Robinson was invited by Barak Obama to give the invocation at the opening inaugural ceremonies at the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, 2009.

In his "retirement," Gene is serving as a Senior Fellow at the Center for America Progress, a progressive think tank in Washington, D.C., where he writes and Speaks on a variety of issues faction the nation. He is also "Bishop in Residence" at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C.

Gene is the father of two grown daughters and the proud grandfather of two granddaughters.  He lives with his husband, Mark Andrew, who is employed by the State of New Hampshire's Department of Health & Human Services.

A list of past Baccalaureate speakers is available beginning in 2004.