Washington and Lee University to Celebrate 232nd Commencement, Baccalaureate W&L celebrates its 232nd undergraduate commencement Thursday, May 23. LIVESTREAM: 10 a.m.
Washington and Lee University celebrates its 232nd undergraduate commencement Thurs., May 23, when it will award bachelor’s degrees to more than 420 students.
University President William C. Dudley will address the graduates at the 10 a.m. ceremony on the Front Lawn of the main campus. Elizabeth Mugo, past president of the Executive Committee of the student body and a graduating senior from Ruiru, Kenya, and Irmo, South Carolina, will speak on behalf of the Class of 2019.
Commencement festivities begin Wed., May 22, at 10 a.m. on the Front Lawn with the traditional baccalaureate service, featuring speaker Kerry Egan ’95. Egan is the New York Times bestselling author of “On Living” (Riverhead, 2016) and “Fumbling” (Doubleday, 2004). Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Woman’s Day, Oprah.com, Parents and Readers’ Digest, among other publications. A hospice chaplain by training and vocation, her work with the dying and living has been featured on NPR, PBS and CNN. She was the 2019 Hannah Judy Gretz Fellow at Ragdale Foundation and an Aspen Words Writer in Residence at the Aspen Institute. She is a member of W&L’s Class of 1995 and a graduate of Harvard Divinity School.
Also speaking at the baccalaureate service are this year’s recipients of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, MaKayla Lorick, of Lexington, Virginia, and Jackson Roberts, of Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland. The two were selected by the faculty as individuals who best demonstrate high ideals of living, spiritual qualities and generous service to others.
During the commencement ceremony on Thursday, W&L will recognize 31 retiring members of the faculty and staff, who represent a total of more than 830 years of service.
Eight graduating seniors have been awarded Fulbright grants for postgraduate international work.
- Hashim Syed, a biology major fromLawrenceville, Georgia, will study and conduct research at the Pasteur Institute and volunteer at the Association des Parents et Amis d’Enfants Inadaptes,in Casablanca, Morocco.
- Reid Gaede, a history major from Cincinnati, Ohio,willwork as an Englishlanguageteaching assistant in Germany.
- Kathryn McEvoy, a politics major from Middletown, Maryland, will work as an Englishlanguage teaching assistant in Spain.
- Jackson Ellis, a politics and German double major from Henrico, Virginia, will work as an Englishlanguageteaching assistant in Germany.
- Andrew Agrippina, a business administration major from Canton, Georgia, will work as an Englishlanguage teaching assistant in Spain.
- Elizabeth Mugo, a sociology and anthropology major from Ruiru, Kenya, and Irmo, South Carolina, will study the perception of the life of refugees after resettlement in Kigoma and Nyarugusu, Tanzania.
- Katherine Dau, an art history and German double major from Farmers Branch, Texas, will conduct research and work as an Englishlanguage teaching assistant in Vienna, Austria.
- Kalady Osowski, a math and art history double major from Hartland, Wisconsin, will study small-scale cultural heritage looting operations in the Golden Triangle of India in Delhi, India.
Six other seniors also received scholarships for postgraduate work.
- Taylor Reese, an English and art double major from Woolwich Township, New Jersey, received an FAO Schwarz Fellowship in Social Impact.
- Kitanna Hiromasa, an economics major from Northglenn, Colorado, received a Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program award.
- Julia Kaczmar, a business administration and German double major from Wayne, Pennsylvania, received a Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals Fellowship.
- Henry “Hank” Patrick, a biochemistry major from Baton Rouge, Louisiana,received a National College Athletic Association Postgraduate Scholarship in support of graduate study.
- Samantha Yates, a biochemistry major from Mountain Brook, Alabama, received a National College Athletic Association Postgraduate Scholarship in support of graduate study.
- Kevin Lencioni, a German and economics double major from Rochester Hill, Michigan,was awarded an Austrian U.S. Teaching Assistantship.
The Class of 2019 hails from 38 states and 17 other countries.
In the event of rain, events will be held at Virginia Military Institute’s Cameron Hall, and the University community will be notified by broadcast e-mail, a notice on the university’s website and other means. Full details on all commencement activities at W&L can be found at www.wlu.edu/commencement. The commencement ceremony will be streamed live online at https://livestream.com/wlu/ugrad-2019.
