Posted Tuesday, June 6, 2006, The OG, features

[Note: This is the third installment of our graduation coverage. We'll post our final batch of photos on Wednesday.]

After the full graduation choir concludes its performance, the senior members move to the front of the stage to sing their final selections as Uni students. Tina Fehrenbacher, president of the Parent-Faculty Organization and mother of senior Annie Fehrenbacher, congratulates the class and offers some friendly parental advice. Ruth Watkins, associate provost, follows with greetings from the University of Illinois. Then it's time for a truly unique tradition — the annual Uni-Lumination led by Alumni Relations Director Marilyn Upah-Bant. The seniors find various illuminating devices underneath their chairs. Once everyone is ready, the lights go off and the Uni-Lumination begins, signifying the seniors' transformation from students to alumni. When the lights come back on, Watkins returns to the podium to present the 2006 Max Beberman Distinguished Alumni Award to Peter Stearns, Class of 1953, a Harvard-trained historian who is provost and chief academic officer of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. Stearns, who excelled at just about everything during his Uni career (he even captained the school's six-man football team), entertains the audience with his not-so-clear recollections of his own graduation ceremony and opens some eyes with his discussion of the major challenges awaiting the new graduates. Musicians Stephen Buzard, Claire Johnson, Angelina Liang, and Melisa Kudeki then take the stage to perform (all are seniors except Johnson, a sophomore). William Sutton follows with a commencement address filled with allusions and references to memorable moments he shared with the graduating class. When he finishes, Assistant Director Sue Kovacs arrives at the section of the program everyone has waited for: the presentation of the Class of 2006. Visit again on Wednesday as we post photos covering the remainder of commencement.

photos by Devika Bagchi, Linda Song & David Porreca

Click photos to enlarge