May 2009 Commencement
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will hold its commencement ceremony Saturday, May 16, at 9:00 a.m.
Location: Carver Hawkeye Arena
Graduates: Plan to arrive no later than 8:30 a.m.
Sponsor: UI Registrar / Phone: 335-0238
Faculty Speaker
John Durham Peters, F. Wendell Miller Professor of Communication Studies, teaches media, technology, and the philosophy of communication. He calls teaching the “laboratory” in which research questions are developed, and says that he tries to reach undergraduates as fellow citizens and graduate students as fellow scholars. He asks his students to think globally about communications, and has himself been a guest lecturer at universities around the world. A student wrote, “He is always striving to learn more, to grasp the new and evolving media from his students.” His book Courting the Abyss: Free Speech and the Liberal Tradition received the 2007 Franklyn S. Haiman Award from the National Communication Association.
Student Speaker
Nicholas Compton, a native of Strawberry Point, Iowa, is a double major in Journalism and Political Science. He is the recipient of numerous scholarships from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Department of Political Science, and the School of Journalism & Mass Communication. Nicholas is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa National Honors Society, and Kappa Tau Alpha, the journalism honor society, which this past year recognized him as the top scholar for 2009, an award presented to the Kappa Tau Alpha graduating senior with the highest scholastic standing. In 2008 Nick was selected to serve as a media volunteer at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.