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Photo Essay | Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Commencement 2009

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Professor John Rassias, who has been part of the faculty since 1965, led the Commencement procession with the Class of 1959.

Jun 12 | 12:00 am

Order this photo | Photo: Jessica Griffen / The Dartmouth Senior Staff

Professor John Rassias, who has been part of the faculty since 1965, led the Commencement procession with the Class of 1959.

Senior class president Ann Rittgers ’09 served as class marshall and led her classmates up Wheelock Street and to the Green.

Umbrellas, ponchos and rain jackets helped the crowd weather rain at the beginning of the ceremony.

For the first time this year, a JumboTron was set up on the Green for Commencement.

College President James Wright, who will step down from his position on July 1, shook approximately 1703 hands during Sunday’s ceremony. He first congratulated 448 masters degree recipients.

Susan Wright, who has served the College as an undergraduate dean, head of Career Services and executive director of the Montgomery Endowment, showed off her Class of 2009 sunglasses as she was escorted to the stage to receive an honorary degree, doctorate of humane letters. James Wright also received an honorary degree, doctor of laws, during the ceremony.

Bill Russell, a former NBA basketball star and Olympic Gold medalist was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters. The College also presented honorary degrees to John P. Abizaid, Raymond B. Johnson ‘59, Jane Lubchenco, Maria Otero and Commencement speaker Louise Erdrich ‘76.

In her speech, Erdrich, the first alumna to deliver a Commencement address at the College, presented several anecdotes from her time as an undergraduate at the College, drawing life lessons from the stories.

Yangyang Liu ‘09 and Geoffrey Kirsch ‘09, valedictorians of the Class of 2009, received an ovation from their classmates in recognition of their academic achievement. Both Liu and Kirsch addressed their class during the ceremony.

Members of the Class of 2009 turned over the tassels of their caps after shaking the hand of President Wright. Students received their degrees after the ceremony in Robinson Hall due to the rain.

President Wright delivered his final Commencement address on Sunday, urging students to embrace the surprises that may arise in their lives. “Lives are things to be lived, not agendas to be followed,” Wright said in his speech.

Members of the Class of 2009 linked arms and sang the College’s Alma Mater at the close of the ceremony.

The ceremony ended with a celebratory hat toss.