Julian Bond

Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), will be the principal speaker at Susquehanna University's 144th commencement ceremonies to be held Sunday, May 12. He will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from the university.

Susquehanna will also award honorary degrees to Sam Evert, a former member of the university board of directors, and Dean of Students Dorothy Anderson '62, who will retire this year following 35 years of service to the university. (See story, page 9.) Anderson will deliver the address at the baccalaureate service beginning at 10 a.m. in Weber Chapel Auditorium.

Bond has been a leader in the movement for civil rights, economic justice and peace, founding the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960 as a student at Morehouse College. As the SNCC's communication director, he played an active role in protests and registration campaigns throughout the South.

He is a veteran of more than 20 years of service in the Georgia General Assembly. Bond was elected in 1965 to the Georgia House of Representatives, but was prevented from taking his seat by members who objected to his opposition to the Vietnam War. A second re-election to his own vacant seat resulted in another unseating. He was seated after a third election and a unanimous decision by the United States Supreme Court.

In the Georgia Senate, Bond was the first black chair of the Fulton County Delegation, which is the largest and most diverse in the upper house. He was also named chair of the Consumer Affairs Committee. He was the sponsor or co-sponsor of more than 60 bills that have become law.

Bond also serves as a commentator on America's Black Forum, the oldest black-owned show in television syndication, and has narrated several documentaries, including the Academy Award-winning A Time For Justice and the prize-winning, critically-acclaimed series Eyes on the Prize. His poetry and articles have also been printed in various publications.

As chairman of the NAACP Board since 1998, Bond heads the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States. Founded in 1909, the organization continues to focus on the protection and enhancement of the civil rights of African Americans and other minorities. The holder of 20 honorary degrees, Bond is a distinguished professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and a professor of history at the University of Virginia.

Sam Evert served as a member of the Susquehanna University board of directors for 14 years, during a time of tremendous growth at Susquehanna. He was elected an emeritus member in 1984. Evert is the retired president of S.H. Evert Company, Inc., the construction company responsible for the renovations to Hassinger Hall and the building of North Hall, Fisher Science Hall, the Degenstein Campus Center and the Weber Chapel Auditorium. Evert's generosity enabled the construction and naming of the Evert Dining Hall in the Degenstein Campus Center in honor of his mother, Dodie.

Enhancing the Writing Program
Gift Establishes Janet C. Weis Endowment for Liberal Arts

Enhancing the Writing Program
Gift Establishes Janet C. Weis Endowment for Liberal Arts

Susquehanna University has received a $500,000 grant from the Degenstein Foundation to establish the Janet C. Weis Endowment for Liberal Arts.

The endowment will support new and expanded initiatives such as a Visiting Writers' Residency, which will attract nationally and internationally prominent poets, novelists and essayists for extended stays on campus. Visiting scholars will teach courses, give lectures and hold student conferences. A scholarship fund will be created to recruit and retain outstanding writing majors.

Funds from the endowment will also help enhance three magazines now published by the writing program - The Susquehanna Review, Essay, and The Apprentice Writer. Distributing the publications to a wider audience will increase exposure for students' writing and raising visibility for the program. Funds will also provide opportunities for Susquehanna's creative writing faculty to participate in readings, workshops and conferences across the country.

"We are deeply grateful for this opportunity to commemorate Janet Weis' deep and abiding commitment to literature and the arts," said University President Jay Lemons. "The generosity of the Degenstein Foundation will be especially helpful in positioning Susquehanna University's Writers' Institute as one of the best undergraduate writing programs in the country."

Through the leadership of Director Gary Fincke, the Writers' Institute has brought more than 100 nationally recognized writers to Susquehanna, including the Poet Laureate of the United States, Billy Collins, along with Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners. Students have been accepted to the most highly acclaimed graduate writing programs in the country and have garnered prestigious assistantships and fellowships.

Susquehanna students also publish in national magazines and compete successfully for places in national workshops. The March 15 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, a national publication covering higher education, featured Susquehanna students and faculty in a lead story about the growing popularity of creative writing as a major across U.S. college and university campuses.

'Science In Motion' Partnership Van
Will Offer Hands-On Science for High School Students

Susquehanna will help students in area high school science classes gain hands-on experience with analytical equipment through a mobile science van initiative kicking off this spring.

The University recently received a $320,000 contract with the aid of State Representative Merle Phillips to provide a Science in Motion program to area high schools. A May 10 kick-off is planned at Danville Area High School.

Susquehanna joins 10 other colleges and universities in offering the program through the Pennsylvania Basic Education/Higher Education Science and Technology Consortium, which is funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Based on a program developed by Juniata College in 1987, each institution in the consortium uses Science in Motion vehicles to visit urban and rural high schools, allowing students access to science instrumentation not available in most secondary schools.

The partnership is designed to encourage and improve science education in regional secondary schools by providing the latest technology and a trained, certified secondary science teacher to assist in teaching labs to local high school teachers free of charge.

The project will also offer professional development opportunities to teachers through summer workshops, daylong seminars and dinner meetings. The partnership addresses the three greatest challenges to science education: access to technologically advanced resources, good professional development for teachers and the enhancement of good science curricula.

"It is our goal to provide excellent science education to schools in our region," said Jan Reichard-Brown, director of the Susquehanna Science in Motion program. "We are going to expose students to cutting-edge technology in science."

The certified secondary teacher for the mobile unit will help introduce students to the use of the instruments by either teaching the classes or assisting the classroom teacher.

One van, to be used for chemistry, has already been donated to the program by Sunbury Motors. It is hoped that a second van may be purchased for biology instruction.

In addition to being outfitted with science equipment, the van will also contain nine laptop computers and a printer for student use in lab work.

Clarion University, Drexel University, Gannon University, Gettysburg College, Juniata College, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Ursinus College, Westminster College, Wilkes University and Cedar Crest College also offer Science in Motion programs to their surrounding high schools.

University Sets Tuition And Fees For 2002-2003

The university's board of directors has approved an increase in tuition and fees for the 2002-03 academic year. Comprehensive fees for next year - which include tuition and fees, room and board - will total $28,500. The $1,230 increase is 4.5 percent of current fees.

"The board and administration worked hard to find the best possible balance between the resources needed to provide a high-quality education and the pressure that fees can place on students and their families," said University President L. Jay Lemons. "In the coming year, we will continue to enhance the teaching and learning environment in significant ways. We will hire 12 additional full-time faculty. We will increase our commitment to information technology infrastructure, virtually doubling our overall investment in that area. And we will celebrate the completion of the new music and art center, bringing greater opportunities to those programs and to the entire campus."

Over the past five years, the increase in Susquehanna's comprehensive fees has averaged 3.8 percent annually, which is modest in relation to many other colleges and universities.