Media Advisory – UA’s Spring Commencement Exercises

MONDAY, MAY 10, 2004
MORNING CEREMONY: 9 a.m.
AFTERNOON CEREMONY: 1 p.m.
COLEMAN COLISEUM

Morning Ceremony: (bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D.): The Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, and Colleges of Communication and Information Sciences, Education, and Nursing.

Afternoon Ceremony: (bachelor’s, master’s, educational specialists, Ph.D. and Ed.D): Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Human Environmental Sciences, and the School of Social Work.

UA TO BROADCAST COMMENCEMENT LIVE VIA INTERNET — For the first time, The University of Alabama will broadcast its commencement ceremonies live over the Internet on May 10. Both the 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. ceremonies will be available. Those who wish to view the ceremonies on the Internet can go to the main UA web page at http://www.ua.edu/ to find the Webcast link. The Webcast will require the free Windows Media Player and a broadband connection. The webcast will be archived on UA’s website and will be available for viewing until May 30.

SPEAKER — James P. Hayes Jr., president of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama. Hayes will also receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Prior to joining the Partnership, Hayes held several key positions for the state of Alabama, including senior adviser to Gov. Don Siegelman, director of the Alabama Development Office, and revenue commissioner and land commissioner. He also served as director of planning and acquisitions for The Louisiana Land & Exploration Co. A native of Brewton and a UA alumnus, Hayes is active in several civic and community organizations including serving on the boards of the Lakeshore Foundation, the Vulcan Park Foundation and the Supporters Board of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center.

AWARDS (9 a.m. Ceremony Only) — Dr. John Hicks, executive assistant to the chancellor and secretary of the UA Board of Trustees, will be awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Hicks has served the board and the chancellor since 1979 and is nationally recognized for these accomplishments in higher education administration. His responsibilities include oversight of the processes, activities and meetings of the board, and he has been integrally involved in the boards’ recruitment of senior leaders, resulting in the selection of 10 campus presidents and four chancellors.

NOTEWORTHY/INSPIRING GRADUATES

MELISSA ALLEN: Comfort Found Amid Childhood Pain Helps Lead Her to Nursing Career — Melissa Allen has never wanted her sometimes painful, incurable disease to define her life, but the compassionate nursing care she received as a frightened, hospitalized child helped crystallize her career choice. Within a week of receiving her bachelor’s degree in nursing, this 22-year-old woman is scheduled to begin her nursing career in the special care unit of Children’s Hospital in Birmingham. Allen has coped with Crohn’s disease, which causes inflammation throughout the entire digestive tract, since she was 11. “I was in and out of the hospital for months at the time,” she recalled. “In the hospital, the nurses were the ones that helped me out and gave me hope and helped me understand there was an end to all the madness. They were the ones that made me realize that there are positive sides to any disease. I hope that one day I can be the same kind of influence on a child’s life.” Allen is scheduled to graduate alongside the classmates she entered UA’s nursing college with in 2000, despite undergoing two major operations since last summer. She adheres to a schedule that includes daily medications and diet restrictions. Despite the challenges, the Snellville, Ga. native has not only succeeded, but excelled, as a nursing student, being recently presented with the College’s Most Outstanding Senior award. Sources: Melissa Allen, maallen@charter.net or 770/490-9890; Dr. Angela Collins, 205/348-2707; Dr. Jena Barrett, associate professor and Allen’s adviser, 205/348-6641.

KIM CROSS: Master’s Thesis Focuses on Changes in Oldest Order of Nuns — Cross, who will receive her master’s degree in journalism, has produced a book on the lives of the Sacred Heart Order of Nuns, a vanishing but valiant group of women who belie the notion that we all have succumbed to a “what’s-in-it-for-me” lifestyle. The group, established in France in 1800, is now a modern group whose lives of service are as exciting, modern and unconventional as they once were cloistered and conventional. For her project, Cross traveled to San Diego, San Francisco, New Orleans, New York and Rome. She explores how this Order has grown, changed and adapted to new ideas in a changing world as their own numbers have dropped by 60 percent and the median age has reached 70. Sources: Kim Cross, 205/394-3493 or kimhcross@yahoo.com.