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WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY TO HOLD COMMENCEMENT ON MAY 15 --Faith Ringgold, award-winning artist and children's book author, to receive honorary degree William Paterson University in Wayne will hold its 173rd commencement ceremony on Tuesday, May 15, 2001 at 10:30 a.m. on Wightman Field on campus. The rain date is Wednesday, May 16, also at 10:30 a.m. A total of 846 students are scheduled to receive degrees. Bachelor's degrees will be conferred upon 709 undergraduates; 137 students will receive master's degrees. All graduates will have completed their degree requirements between January and May, 2001. Faith Ringgold, the award-winning painter, mixed media sculptor, performance artist and author, will be awarded an honorary doctor of fine arts degree. President Arnold Speert will address the graduating class along with Daren Smith of Paterson, senior class president, who will deliver the statement for the Class of 2001. Graduates will be recognized by college and will proceed to the platform to be congratulated by the college dean. Receptions for students, faculty and guests will be held in Caldwell Plaza on campus following commencement activities. Alumni from the class of 1951, who graduated when William Paterson was called New Jersey State Teachers College at Paterson, will be present at the ceremony and attend a 50th reunion luncheon sponsored by the Alumni Relations Office. The Alumni Association's Young Alumni Chapter will host a Senior Send-Off reception on Monday, May 14 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Caldwell Plaza. Ringgold began her artistic career more than 35 years ago as a painter. Today, she is best known for her painted story quilts -- art that combines painting, quilted fabric and storytelling. She has exhibited in major museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa. Her art is included in many private and public collections including the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Her first book, "Tar Beach," published in 1991, interweaves fiction, autobiography and African American history and literature in its story of eight-year-old Cassie, whose dream of being free comes true. The book was a Caldecott Honor Book and the winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for illustration, among numerous other honors. Her other books include "Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky," "My Dream of Martin Luther King," "The Invisible Princess," "Dinner at Aunt Connie's House," "If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Ms. Rosa Parks," "Talking to Faith Ringgold," and "We Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold." Ringgold has received more than 75 awards, fellowships, citations and honors, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Fellowship for painting, two awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, and fifteen honorary doctorates, including one from her alma mater, the City College of New York. She is currently a professor at the University of California at San Diego. William Paterson University, one of the
nine state colleges and universities in New Jersey, offers 30
undergraduate and 18 graduate programs through five colleges:
Art and Communication, Business, Education, Humanities and Social
Sciences, and Science and Health. Located on 370 hilltop acres
in Wayne, the university enrolls approximately 10,000 students
and provides housing for nearly 2,300 students. The institution's
358 full-time faculty are highly distinguished and diverse scholars
and teachers, many of whom are recipients of prestigious awards
and grants from the Fulbright Program (25 scholars), the Guggenheim
Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National
Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the
American Philosophical Society.
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