ONEONTA _ Thousands of parents, family members, alumni and friends will be on hand Saturday for the 119th commencement at the State University College at Oneonta.
Carl T. Hayden, chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees, will be the commencement speaker.
Honorary SUNY doctorates will be presented to Cooperstown resident Hugh MacDougall, a retired diplomat and Cooper scholar, and to Dr. Angelo Scopelianos, a 1977 SUCO graduate who is vice president for research and development at Johnson & Johnson's Center for Biomaterials and Advanced Technologies.
The college will offer two ceremonies in the Dewar Arena of the Alumni Field House, one at 10 a.m. and one at noon. Students will attend one of the ceremonies, depending upon their major.
After each of the ceremonies, graduates and their guests will participate in one of several divisional ceremonies, where the graduates will receive individual diplomas and awards.
In all, more than 1,500 students are expected to be awarded degrees.
Participants in the annual ceremony will include graduates who completed requirements for bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and certificates of advanced study in the summer or fall of 2007 or the spring of 2008.
According to information from SUCO, at the ceremony, President Alan B. Donovan will offer the welcome and introduction of honored guests, and Patrick Brown, College Council chairman, will greet the assembly.
Donovan and Provost F. Daniel Larkin will recognize Music Professor Janet Nepkie for her promotion to SUNY distinguished service professor.
They will present the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching to Associate Professor Stephen Walsh; Associate Professor Donna Vogler; and Assistant Professor William Ashbaugh.
Associate librarian and acting head of reference and instruction Nancy Cannon will receive the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship.
Associate Vice President for Facilities Thomas Rathbone will receive the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service.
Donovan and Larkin will confer the degrees on graduates. Hayden and Brown will join Donovan in presenting honorary SUNY doctorates to MacDougall and Scopelianos, who will offer a response to the graduates.
The address to graduates will be presented by Hayden.
Senior class President Matthew Harrington will offer remarks, as well as Alumni Association President Richard Reed, class of 1978.
Music will be provided by the Catskill Brass under the direction of Professor Carleton Clay. Selections will include "Recessional, Oneonta '08," an original piece composed by Clay and dedicated to the graduating class.
The Mohawk Valley Frasers will provide bagpipe music for the processional and recessional.
Vocalist Luis Castro of the class of 2008 will lead the audience in singing the national anthem and the alma mater.
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