Colleges celebrate commencements

Local colleges and universities will hold commencement exercises around the Archdiocese of Baltimore during the next few weeks.

Mount St. Mary’s University 203rd Commencement Exercises will be held May 15 at 11 a.m. in the Knott Arena in the Mount’s Athletic Recreation and Convocation Complex in Emmitsburg. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, will deliver the commencement address. Installed in June 2006 as the sixth Archbishop of Washington, he was elevated to the College of Cardinals in November 2010.

More than 500 students from the graduate and undergraduate programs will receive degrees from the Mount. It is the first graduating class featuring students enrolled in the Third Century Scholar Program. This program, established in 2007, assists low-income, underrepresented students from the Washington, D.C., metro area to obtain a college degree.

Dr. Benjamin Carson, director of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, will deliver Loyola University Maryland’s commencement address May 21. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, honoris causa, during Loyola University Maryland’s 159th commencement exercises.

More than 1,700 baccalaureate and advanced degrees will be conferred, starting at 11 a.m. at Baltimore’s 1st Mariner Arena.

Loyola’s president, Jesuit Father Brian Linnane, said Dr. Carson’s life fits with Loyola’s values.

“Dr. Carson’s professional career and personal background align very closely with Loyola’s Jesuit ideals and mission,” said Father Linnane of the noted humanitarian. “We share his belief that education is the key to building a better world, and that one’s socioeconomic background should never be a barrier to educational opportunity. We share his belief that those gifted with great talents have a responsibility to use them for the betterment of their communities.”

The College of Notre Dame of Maryland will hold their commencement May 28 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Dorothy M. Brown, professor emerita and former provost of Georgetown University, will deliver the commencement address. Brown, a noted historian, is a 1954 Notre Dame graduate and was briefly interim president.

The 116th commencement will be the last for the school under its current designation. It will transition to Notre Dame of Maryland University later this fall.

Catholic Review

The Catholic Review is the official publication of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.