As Beloit’s newest alumni make their way from the stage at Commencement’s end, Dylan Smith (Bethesda, Md.) gets a congratulatory handshake from Tom McBride, Gayle and William Keefer Professor of the Humanities.

A glorious Wisconsin Sunday in May allowed Beloit to hold its 159th Commencement ceremony outdoors, the first time the weather gave the event a break from its Flood Arena rain location since 2005.

Even with the recession and its gloominess still pressing in from all sides, friends and family arrived with their good spirits intact, ready to focus on the positive achievements of the class of 2009 and the group of individuals who were singled out for special honors that day.

On the verdant Middle College lawn, colorful banners swayed in the breeze and a brass ensemble played Blue Skies, as if in homage to the scenic quality of the setting. A large crowd of camera-snapping families and friends assembled among the Indian mounds, some arriving as early as 7:30 a.m. to claim their seats for the 11 o’clock event.

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, a Beloit parent, delivered the Commencement address to the 301 graduates. “I love Beloit College,” he said. “I love its style and its openness, its encouragement to question and explore. I love the unique spirit of this great place.”

Doyle reminded graduates that people with strong critical thinking skills and high ethics are going to be needed to help transform the economy. He also talked about the parallels between this time in history and his youth, when a young President Kennedy encouraged his generation to serve its country. At the time, he said he felt like the president was speaking directly to him. He and his wife, Jessica, heeded that call by joining the newly created Peace Corps and serving in Tunisia.

“Now, a young president is calling you to service,” Doyle told graduates. “You are blessed with a great education from a great college. We need you more than ever. We need you, and we’re counting on you.”

Like most Commencement ceremonies, Beloit’s 2009 event had its bittersweet moments, its tears and its silliness, its tendency to reflect back and look forward simultaneously.

Jordan Horn—a promising sophomore and member of the class who died in a car accident in 2007—was noted with great sadness twice during the ceremony. Jordan’s family received a special plaque, recognizing her place in the class of 2009.

In his invocation, Bill Conover, director of Beloit’s Spiritual Life Program, reminded the crowd that in other difficult years, “our ancestors planted the seeds bearing fruit today.” He ended by saying, “May we live up to our common calling in the years ahead. Today we celebrate!”

James Sanger, chair of Beloit’s board of trustees, paid tribute to Interim President Dick Niemiec’65 and his wife, Joan, for their past year of College leadership. As Sanger thanked the Niemiecs and said a public farewell to Beloit’s first family, students, faculty, and staff sprang to their feet to applaud the couple’s service. Dick Niemiec will resume his post on the College’s board of trustees in the coming year.

Scott Bierman, Beloit’s 11th president and his wife, Melody, were in the audience, representing Beloit’s future. The crowd welcomed them warmly with applause as they were introduced from the stage. The Biermans arrive at Beloit later in the summer, when he assumes his duties at the College in July.

In his comments to the class of 2009, Bill Conover, who directs Beloit’s Spiritual Life Program, put Commencement into context for graduates and their families.

“This year has been a hard one, and that makes today especially important,” Conover said in his invocation. “For the College, the nation, and most all of us here, it has been a year of sacrifices and second-guesses, uncertainty and assumptions that turned to sand,” he said. “Individually and collectively, we need this moment, up here on the balcony of our lives, to remember why even the hard years are good ones.”

 

The Envelope, Please

A sitting governor, a former College president, a former trustee, and accomplished members of the alumni community, faculty, and staff were among those honored with the class of 2009.

Commencement speaker and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle marches in the procession before the ceremony. He is flanked by Professor of Biology Yaffa Grossman and Interim President Dick Niemiec’65.

Jim Doyle, the 44th Governor of the State of Wisconsin, delivered the address to the class of 2009 and received an honorary degree from Beloit, an extraordinary recognition given to those whose lives and works represent the ideals for which the College stands. Early in his career, Doyle prepared for service to the people of Wisconsin, first through the Peace Corps and later as a teacher on a Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona. He has devoted most of his life to the people of Wisconsin, as a district attorney, attorney general, and presently as Governor.

Victor E. Ferrall, Jr., the ninth president of Beloit College, received double honors during Commencement 2009. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree and emeritus status as College President. This author, lawyer, and craftsman has continued to be both a friend to Beloit and a passionate advocate for the liberal arts since he retired from active service in 2000.

“Like the founders of Beloit College, this son of Yale came west to expand on a tradition dedicated to teaching, complemented by scholarship,” President Niemiec said of Ferrall. “With wit, charm, cajolery, and powerful defense, he supported and nourished the liberal, democratic, and polished concept of the Beloit ideal of education.”

Eric Isaacs’79, physicist, educator, and director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, received an honorary Doctor of Science degree in recognition of his distinguished career in the sciences. Isaacs’ ties to Argonne, one of the Department of Energy’s oldest and largest national labs for science and engineering research, were formed during the Beloit Plan years.

Marta Sutton Weeks’51, former College trustee, retired Episcopal priest, philanthropist, and dedicated volunteer, was recognized with an honorary doctorate during Commencement exercises. A travel glitch kept her from attending the event, but she and her late husband, Austin, were recognized at the ceremony for their faith in and support of Beloit College. Weeks’ dedication to a lifetime of service was formally recognized earlier when, in 2001, she received the Distinguished Service Citation, the highest honor from the Beloit College Alumni Association. 

Upon his retirement, Ron Nief, who directed the College’s Office of Public Affairs for the past 13 years, was inducted into the ranks of emeriti staff at Commencement. Nief was lauded as a creative and tireless promoter of both the College and the city of Beloit and “for telling the story of Beloit with accuracy, enthusiasm, and originality,” said Associate Dean Donna Oliver. Among other things, this larger-than-life champion of Beloit created the Beloit College Mindset List, which he continues to co-author with Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride.

Professor of Classics Art Robson, who chaired Beloit’s classics program for more than 40 years, retired at the end of the academic year, and was named to the ranks of faculty emeriti. He was recognized for his eclecticism, humor, wit, showmanship, and creativity over a long and productive career. His laugh was cited as one of his most memorable qualities, described as “truly raucous and almost inhuman, the clear sign of a man who loved ideas and people, but never took them too seriously or, better, took them so seriously he had to laugh at them.” A story about Robson appears in the news section of this issue.

From left: Rebecca Beaty (Thorigne-Fouillard, France), Sandra Becerra Jimenez (Fitchburg, Wis.), and Lia Bengston (Shoreview, Minn.) enjoy a light moment during Beloit’s 159th Commencement. More Commencement Photos

 

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