Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and friends have the opportunity to submit
their suggestions for the University's 2010 Commencement speaker. Suggestions can
be submitted at http://commencement.syr.edu through March 18, 2009.
This year's call for ideas is part of a new, streamlined process the University has
developed for selection of a Commencement speaker. In past years, the speaker
nominations have taken place in the fall semester preceding graduation. The selection
process has now been moved up to the preceding spring semester-a full year before
the Commencement ceremony takes place. Dates for the selection of senior class
marshals and school and college marshals, who have important roles in selecting a
speaker and in the Commencement ceremony, have also been moved forward.
"Moving up the selection process allows us to have access to many more potential
Commencement speakers," says Susan Germain, executive director of the
University's Office of Special Events, which coordinates the Commencement
ceremony.
Following the March 18 deadline, Special Events will compile a list from the
suggestions submitted through the website and forward the list to the University's
Commencement Speaker Selection Committee.
The committee consists of the senior class marshals, marshals from each of the
University's schools and colleges and the three Student Association/Graduate Student
Organization-selected undergraduate and graduate representatives to the
University's Board of Trustees. Led by the senior class marshals, the committee meets
initially with the Chancellor to receive its charge and then meets independently to
deliberate suggestions. The committee then forwards a non-ranked list of 30-50
potential speakers to the Chancellor, who makes the final decision based on
appropriateness, availability and eligibility to receive an honorary degree. Criteria are
posted on the Commencement website.
The 2009 University Marshals-Carissa Matthews, a senior in the S.I. Newhouse
School of Public Communications, and Brian Spendley, a senior in the L.C. Smith
College of Engineering and Computer Science-co-chaired the selection committee
for the 2009 speaker.
"At first, it seemed a bit daunting to be given the task of selecting the
Commencement speaker. However, I quickly realized that not only was this a group
effort by the committee, but also by the entire student body," says Matthews. "SU
students did a fantastic job submitting speaker ideas through the Commencement
website. I enjoyed that the list of potential speakers was created by students from all
of the schools and colleges at the University and ESF. Their involvement was so
apparent in looking at the list, on which there were leaders in fields ranging from
government to education, entertainment to technology, and everything in between."
Spendley says that the committee gave much consideration to each of the names on
the list it prepared. "As a committee, we really wanted to be sure that the potential
speakers we suggested would appeal to the student body as a whole."
The Commencement speaker for 2009 will be announced in the coming weeks.
Previous Commencement speakers have included ABC News journalist Bob
Woodruff (2008); memoirist and author Frank McCourt (2007); musician Billy Joel
(2006); world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall (2005); actress Phylicia Rashad
(2004); former President Bill Clinton (2003); former New York City Mayor Rudy
Giuliani (2002) and former NASA astronaut Eileen Collins (2001).
