Gros Louis will be commencement speaker at IUB, receive honorary degree

13,489 IU degrees to be conferred next month at IU campuses

By George Vlahakis

Ken Gros Louis, retiring IU Bloomington chancellor and vice president for academic affairs, will be the Bloomington commencement speaker. He also will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, one of 11 honorary degrees that IU will confer during six different campus ceremonies. This will be It's 172nd year of commencement activities.

Other honorary degree recipients will include:

IU Bloomington: Jack Gill, a high tech venture capitalist, Doctor of Science; and Raymond Leppard, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra music director, Doctor of Music. Leppard’s degree will be conferred at both the IUB and IUPUI commencement ceremonies.

IUPUI: in addition to Leppard, Dr. Doris Merritt, special assistant to the chancellor for research and graduate education and professor emeritus of pediatrics, Doctor of Science; Dr. George Rawls, a retired Indianapolis surgeon and former assistant dean of the IU School of Medicine, Doctor of Science; and Dr. Daniel Laskin, a distinguished leader in the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery, Doctor of Science.

IU Northwest: Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, Doctor of Laws.

IPFW: James Kelley, a civic leader and philanthropist, Doctor of Humane Letters.

Other honorary degree recipients will be announced closer to commencement.

Check the Web site below for more information:

http://www.indiana.edu/~ceremony/commencement_events.html

'On that best portion of a good person's life' 'Still, it is not only the woodland campus, the quiet setting in a Midwestern town, the campus treasures that makes this place feel like college ought to feel. It is the student body and the faculty and staff--some of the finest minds in the nation and in the world--that make this a learning community. Returning to (William) Wordsworth, it is the action and activities of these individuals that "...have no slight or trivial influence / on that best portion of a good person's life."'

--Ken Gros Louis, IU Bloomington Chancellor An excerpt from his "Welcome to Bloomington" Web page http://www.iub-chancellor.indiana.edu/