Davidson seniors exit Chambers Hall on the way to graduation.

Following is a press release from Davidson College

Presiding over his final commencement as Davidson College’s 16th president, Robert F. Vagt urged graduates Sunday to carry with them the “Davidson bubble” in which they’ve lived for the past four years.

In accordance with college tradition, the president is the featured commencement speaker. President Vagt (photo, in red, with Clark Ross, dean of faculty and vice president of academic affairs) noted that in his 10-year tenure, he had heard many students speak about living in a “Davidson bubble” whose culture is markedly different from that of the world at large. President Vagt acknowledged that Davidson College life features close friendships and mentorships, high expectations, intellectual curiosity, and compassion for others that may not be found everywhere off campus.

He urged the graduates to carry those values with them into their postgraduate lives, and influence the world with them. “Take away the conviction that you will achieve great things,” he said. “We have faith in the contributions you will make.”

To emphasize his charge, President Vagt arranged for each graduate to receive a bottle of bubble solution as they left the stage after receiving their diplomas.

(President Vagt will retire this summer. The college in March named alumnus Thomas W. Ross Sr. to replace him. )

Commencement occurred in the shade of the front campus oaks on a beautiful cool and sunny morning. About 3,000 participants, family members, and well-wishers attended.

DIPLOMAS AND AWARDS

In addition to conferring Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees to 442 students, the college presented several awards. Hunter-Hamilton Love of Teaching Awards went to Randall M. “Randy” Ingram, associate professor of English and Craig Wall Distinguished Professor of Humanities, and to Kristi S. Multhaup, Associate Professor of Psychology. Each award includes $7,500 for the recipient, and $7,500 more for the recipient to designate to a college cause.

Mr. Ingram joined the faculty in 1995 and specializes in seventeenth-century English literature. He conducts a much-anticipated annual all-day reading of John Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” and was cited for “incessant encouragement, positive demeanor, excellent scholarship, tough requirements, and considerable humor and creativity.”

Ms. Multhaup joined the faculty in 1996 and specializes in cognitive aging and memory. She was recently named as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, an honor that recognizes outstanding national contributions in the field. Multhaup studies how memory is similar and how it is different across the adult years, and has published many peer-reviewed articles looking at areas such as how young and older adults remember the source of information, and on cognitive changes associated with dementia. Students in her semi-annual “Autobiographical Memory and Reminiscence” class partner with an older adult in the Davidson community to create, through interviews, a web page about the adult partner’s life.

Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards recognizing outstanding contributions to campus life were presented to graduating senior Patricia M. Massey of Laurinburg, N.C., and Davidson residents Jerry and Gwen Hollenbeck. Massey is a national leader of the Presbyterian Church youth organization, led the campus chapter of the CROP hunter-relief organization, and helped create the campuswide “Engage for Change” community service initiative.

The Hollenbecks were cited for generously “adopting” dozens of international students and men’s basketball players into their home during the past decade. One wrote of them, “Getting to know the Hollenbecks has been crucial in my settling in at Davidson. When I need to get off campus, or crave home-cooked food, I know I can always count on them. They offer a nurturing and fun environment where students hang out for hours.”

Twenty-nine students graduated magna cum laude, with grade point averages of 3.75 or above. The first honor for the best academic record went to Douglas J. Grunwald of Wallingford, Conn. A three-year varsity baseball player, Grunwald majored in biology with a minor in chemistry. He will attend the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine next year.

Second honor went to N. Bryant Kirkland of Sarasota, Fla. Kirkland graduated with high honors in classics, and has received a Fulbright Fellowship for study abroad next year. In addition to his excellence in the classroom, he starred in several Davidson mainstage theatre productions.

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