News Release

Editors/Producers: The location of the university-wide commencement and Homewood undergraduate diploma ceremonies has been changed from that of past years. These ceremonies will be held under a tent on the field south of Garland Hall, near Wyman Park Drive. There will be a press section for print and broadcast reporters and photographers stage right [audience left] toward the front of the seating area during both ceremonies. Press credentials are required.

Al Hunt, executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal, will address seniors graduating from Johns Hopkins University's schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering at their diploma ceremony at 1:45 p.m. on Thursday, May 24, in the field south of Garland Hall on the Homewood campus. Earlier that day, university president William R. Brody will speak at the university-wide commencement ceremony at 9:15 a.m. at the same location.

Noteworthy speakers at other Johns Hopkins commencement-related events that day include the Dalai Lama, who will speak at the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C.; Surgeon General David Satcher, who will speak at the School of Medicine diploma ceremony; and violinist Isaac Stern, who will address graduates of the Peabody Conservatory. The ceremonies mark the end of the university's 125th academic year.

About the graduating class

The total number of earned degrees, certificates and diplomas awarded is expected to be 5,251, as follows: 1,176 bachelor's degrees (including 940 seniors graduating from the schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering); 3,498 master's degrees; 499 doctoral degrees (116 of which are medical degrees); and 78 certificates and diplomas.

About the ceremonies

The university as a whole and its eight academic divisions will hold the following commencement events:

University-wide Commencement Ceremony. Thursday, May 24, 9:15 a.m. to approximately noon, under a tent south of Garland Hall, Homewood campus. Speaker: William R. Brody, president, The Johns Hopkins University. During this ceremony, all university degrees are conferred by the university president. The only students who receive their diplomas on stage at this time, however, are doctoral students from all divisions. The ceremony also recognizes new members of the Society of Scholars and is the occasion at which the university confers honorary degrees of doctor of humane letters. (See list below.)

Arts and Sciences/Engineering Undergraduate Diploma Ceremony. Thursday, May 24, 1:45 p.m. under the tent south of Garland Hall, Homewood campus. Speaker: Al Hunt, executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal. During this ceremony, seniors from the schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering, who officially graduated when degrees were conferred in the morning ceremony, cross the stage to shake hands with the president. Afterwards, they receive their diplomas. Commencement speaker Al Hunt has been executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal since 1993, writing the weekly editorial page column Politics & People and directing the paper's political polls. He has been a panelist for 11 years on CNN's The Capital Gang and since 1998 on CNN's Evans, Novak, Hunt & Shields. His brother is a Johns Hopkins graduate and his nephew, Noah Hunt, is a member of the senior class.

G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering Ph.D. hooding ceremony. Wednesday, May 23, 3:30 p.m., Shriver Hall, Homewood campus. Speaker: Charles R. Westgate, William B. Kouwenhoven Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering.

The School of Professional Studies in Business and Education Undergraduate and Graduate Diploma Award Ceremony. Wednesday, May 23, 7:30 p.m., under the tent south of Garland Hall, Homewood campus Speaker: Mame Warren, historian and author, editor of the university's 125th anniversary commemoration book.

The Bloomberg School of Public Health Diploma Award Ceremony. Wednesday, May 23, 7:30 p.m., Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore. Speaker: Joshua Lederberg, Nobel laureate and former president of Rockefeller University.

The School of Medicine Diploma Award Ceremony. Thursday, May 24, 2:30 p.m. Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore. Speaker: Surgeon General David Satcher.

The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Diploma Award Ceremony. Thursday, May 24, 3 p.m., Constitution Hall, 18th and D Sts., N.W., Washington, D.C. Speaker: the Dalai Lama. News media who plan to cover the Dalai Lama's speech must register in advance with Felisa Neuringer at the SAIS Public Affairs Office at (202) 663-5626 or fneuringer@jhu.edu.

The School of Nursing Diploma Award Ceremony. Thursday, May 24, 5 p.m., Kraushaar Auditorium, Goucher College, Towson, Md. Speaker: Maryann F. Fralic, professor and director of corporate and foundation relations, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.

The Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Master's Diploma Award Ceremony. Thursday, May 24, 6:30 p.m., Shriver Hall, Homewood campus. Speaker: Edward T. Dangel III '64, managing partner, Dangel, Donlan & Fine, Boston, Mass.

G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering Master's Diploma Award Ceremony. Thursday, May 24, 7:30 p.m., under the tent south of Garland Hall, Homewood campus. Speaker: Joseph R. Reynolds Jr., president, FTI Inc.

The Peabody Conservatory Diploma Award Ceremony. Thursday, May 24, 8 p.m., Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall, Peabody Institute. Speaker: violinist Isaac Stern.

Honorary Degree Recipients

The following distinguished persons will receive the honorary degree of doctor of humane letters at the university-wide commencement ceremony on Thursday morning, May 24. All have longstanding ties to Johns Hopkins:

Karen Davis, president, The Commonwealth Fund, a foundation devoted to independent research on health and social policy issues. Former chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. A world-respected researcher on issues of health services and health policy.

Alfred E. Mann, inventor, entrepreneur and chairman of a number of biomedical device companies. Chairman of the Alfred E. Mann Foundation and of the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California, both devoted to the development of advanced medical products. His companies have collaborated with Johns Hopkins researchers for decades.

Maclyn McCarty, retired vice president and physician- in-chief at Rockefeller Institute and co-discoverer of the role of DNA in the transmission of hereditary information. Winner of the 1994 Albert Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science. A 1937 graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a former intern and resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital. His son, Richard McCarty, is dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins.

Arnall Patz, professor of ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University, and director emeritus of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. A leading eye researcher. Winner of the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award in 1956 for his discovery that a widely accepted oxygen therapy for premature infants caused blindness.