News
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More than 2,900 students to receive degrees May 19-20
May 12, 2012 •
More than 2,900 students will receive degrees at Notre Dame’s 167th University Commencement Ceremonies, which will be held on campus May 19 and 20 (Saturday and Sunday).
Degrees will be conferred on 1,973 undergraduates at the Sunday ceremony. Alumna Haley Scott DeMaria, who made an inspiring recovery from critical injuries suffered in a tragic 1992 bus accident involving the Fighting Irish swimming team, will be the principal speaker and will receive an honorary degree. Ken Hackett, former president of Catholic Relief Services, will receive the 2012 Laetare Medal, Notre Dame’s highest honor and the most prestigious award given to American Catholics.
Michael J. O’Brien, a political science major from St. Charles, Ill., will deliver the valedictory address.
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Father Jenkins urges graduates to express beliefs respectfully
May 07, 2012 •
In a commencement address Monday (May 7) at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, urged graduates to hold fast to their convictions but express them in “more skillful, more respectful ways.”
Father Jenkins spoke to Wesley’s 130th graduating class in a ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral.
“We in this country are in the midst of a social crisis, a harsh and deepening split between groups that are all too ready to see evil in each other,” Father Jenkins said. “Each side has never been more eager yet more unable to dominate the other. Both sides call for change, but each believes it’s the other side that must change.”
