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UPDATE May 13, 2007: Today's Commencement Ceremony will be held outside on the Lawn of Harwood Memorial Union. Temperatures are forecast to be cool (high 64° F) with slight breezes. There is a slight chance (30%) for a passing shower. Please dress and plan accordingly.
May 3 , 2007
RIPON, Wis. – The 141st commencement of Ripon College will take place at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, May 13 in front of Harwood Memorial Union. This year’s theme is “Health and Service.”
Several honored guests are scheduled to share the stage with the Class of 2007.
Jonathan K. Muraskas M.D. ’78 is the official commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient. A professor of pediatrics and neonatal/perinatal medicine at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill., he has cared for some 15,000 sick babies, more than 1,700 of whom weighed less than two pounds at birth. In fact, it was a patient of Muraskas’ whose 8.6-ounce live birth landed both of them in the Guinness Book of World Records. In his 29-year career, Muraskas has cared for some 300 sets of triplets, ten sets of quadruplets, two sets of quintuplets and six sets of conjoined twins, as well as a tiny polar bear and an equally small gorilla.
Honorary degree recipient Joia Mukherjee is the medical director of Partners in Health (PIH), an international medical charity that has community-based health care programs in Haiti, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Rwanda and inner-city Boston. Focused on the human rights aspects of disease treatment, Mukherjee leads PIH teams in treating multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV and in implementing other complex health interventions in resource-poor settings. She is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and an attending physician in infectious disease at Massachusetts General, and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals in Boston.
JoAnn Marie Davis of Wisconsin Dells is the recipient of the Distinguished Educator Award. Now retired, she spent 33 years teaching art in the School District of Wisconsin Dells and has taught at each of the district’s six elementary schools. She has been an active volunteer in her local community, lending her skills to everything from Christmas pageants and parade float decorations to coordination of the city's parks and recreation craft program. She is the mother of Drew Bradley Crain Davis, class of 2007.
Finally, Donald and Marilyn Anderson (class of ’42 and ’45, respectively) will be awarded the Ripon College Medal of Merit. Over the years, the Andersons have established an endowed scholarship at Ripon College and have supported various capital campaigns. They are charter members of Ripon’s Benefactors and Partners in the Legacy. Anderson Hall was dedicated in their honor in 2003, and the conference room in the recently renovated Evans Admission Center also bears their names. Don and Marilyn have assisted the College’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity, a national organization with which they are involved in Naples, Fla.
In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in Wyman Gymnasium, Storzer Center. The decision will be made Sunday morning and posted to www.ripon.edu.
The class of 2007 respectfully asks that members of the Ripon community who live near campus be mindful of the 1-4 p.m. window during which commencement will be held, and to keep loud noises (mowers, chainsaws, etc.) to a minimum during that time.
About Ripon College
Ripon College, founded in 1851, prepares students of diverse interests for lives of productive, socially responsible citizenship. Ripon’s liberal arts curriculum and residential campus create an intimate learning community in which students experience a richly personalized education. Ripon has been recognized as a “best value” and “Best 361 College” by The Princeton Review, a “Best Buy in College Education” by Barron’s, and among the 160 best schools in the nation by Colleges of Distinction. For more information about Ripon College, visit www.ripon.edu.
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