Carleton College to Hold 135th Commencement Saturday, June 13

Carleton College will award the Bachelor of Arts degree to 506 graduating seniors at the 135th annual commencement exercises on Saturday, June 13 at 9:30 a.m. on the Bald Spot, the lawn west of Hulings Hall on the Carleton campus. In the event of severe weather, commencement will be held indoors at the Recreation Center.

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Since 1978, Carleton has enjoyed the tradition of asking members of the senior class to select two classmates to make remarks at the ceremony. This year, Carolyn Morales, a sociology & anthropology and art history double major from Tucson, Ariz., was selected to present her speech, entitled “Goodbye, Carleton.” The second speaker will be Thomas Fry, an English major from Fort Collins, Colo., whose speech is titled “The Most Forgettable Part of My Speech.”

In addition to the impressive academic workload of a double major, Morales learned how to ice skate at Carleton on the women’s hockey team and how to dance with the help of the Ebony II performing group and belly dancing classes. She also found the time to study abroad on an art and culture program in Sienna, Italy. Next year, she plans to move to the Basque Region of Spain, where she will be employed as a language and culture assistant for the Spanish government.

Fry is a four-year member of the Carleton Singing Knights, the College’s oldest all male a cappella group. He also gradually moved up the ranks of The Carl, a student-run arts and culture publication, eventually becoming one of the executive editors.  Fry has been active in KRLX 88.1, Carleton’s FM radio station, both as a show host and a coordinator of events such as “Late Night Trivia.” After Carleton, Fry plans to move to a “bustling metropolis and scrounge for a job.”

Carleton will also confer two honorary degrees at this year’s commencement ceremony. Philanthropic businesswoman Annie S.C. Wu and acclaimed concert pianist Peter Basquin, a 1964 graduate of Carleton, will each receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree and address the graduating class.  Carleton selects its honorary degree recipients each year who have “attained eminence in their profession or who have rendered distinguished service to society.”

After graduating summa cum laude from Carleton in 1964 with a B.A. in music, Basquin pursued a Master of Music degree in piano at the Manhattan School of Music.  He went on to a long and illustrious career as a concert pianist and a professor of music and Director of Musical Performance at City University of New York’s Hunter College in New York City.  He won the Montreal International Piano Competition in 1971, and has performed regularly at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Basquin’s performance career also includes appearances as a featured soloist for the Boston Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the American Symphony Orchestra.  He has performed under famed conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Gunther Schuller, Dennis Russell Davies and Paul Dunkel.  While his solo work is highly regarded, Basquin has also specialized in collaborative, chamber performances.  He currently tours with the Aeolian Chamber Players, and has been featured on recordings with many other instrumentalists. During his thirty years as a professor at Hunter, he taught in the piano studio and led piano literature courses.  Now, as professor emeritus, he serves as a faculty artist at the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival and holds the Francis Thorne piano chair of the American Composers Orchestra. The title of Basquin’s speech is “The Paradox of the Pianist.”

In addition to being the founder of Beijing Air Catering, Ltd., Wu has provided Carleton students with invaluable assistance as a consultant to Carleton Off-Campus Studies programs, particularly the Beijing Seminar led by Roy Grow, Frank B. Kellogg Professor of International Relations.  Wu’s entrepreneurial success began in 1980, when she established Beijing Air Catering, the first joint-venture company in mainland China.  Almost thirty years later, she is the vice-chairperson or managing director of more than 15 joint-venture air catering and services companies in China, and Beijing Air Catering provides 50 airlines with over 40,000 meals per day.  Her impact extends beyond the catering industry, however: she is one of the founders of the Hong Kong Federation of Women, and chair of The Chinese History & Culture Educational Foundation for Youth and the Hong Kong Soong Ching Ling Children’s Foundation, Ltd.  The effects of Wu’s philanthropic work are also far-reaching.  She leads a large family foundation that contributes to projects which promote educational opportunity and exchange across Asia.  Her dedication to this cause is also seen in her work with Carleton students.  She has assisted in overcoming logistical barriers to study abroad programs in China, and has helped dozens of Carleton students find jobs in China.  Wu has been key in building countless bridges between Northfield and China. Wu’s speech is entitled “Harmony and Prosperity to Promote World Peace.”