April 25, 2007 — Commencement ceremonies at the University of Utah will be held on Friday, May 4, at 9 a.m. in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The class of 2007, comprised of 7,166 graduates, will receive degrees that morning. The procession of diverse students, who come from 75 countries, 48 U.S. states and 27 of Utah’s 29 counties, will begin at 8:30 a.m. Guests should plan to be in their seats prior to 8:30 a.m. Tickets are not required.

Of the 7,166 graduates, 5,306 will receive bachelor’s degrees; 1,622 will receive master’s degrees; 466 are doctorates; 134 are juris doctors; 97 are doctors of medicine; and 46 are doctors of pharmacy. Of this year’s graduates, 3,830 are men and 3,336 are women. The number of degrees awarded exceeds the number of graduates, as some students will receive more than one degree.

The youngest bachelor’s degree recipient is 19; the oldest, 68. The average age of bachelor’s degree recipients is 27. The average grade point average for this group is 3.25. The average age of students receiving graduate degrees is 33. The youngest student receiving a graduate degree is 21 and the oldest is 80.

The largest number of undergraduate degrees will be awarded in mass communication, economics, political science, psychology, sociology, human development and family studies, nursing, finance, speech communication and English respectively.

University of Utah President Michael K. Young will officiate at this year’s commencement. The featured speaker will be Thomas S. Monson, first counselor to President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He will be presented with an honorary doctorate of business. The student speaker will be Sophia Said, who is graduating summa cum laude in economics. The vocalist will be Cecily Ellis, who is graduating in music from the College of Fine Arts.

Honorary degrees will also be presented to A. Scott Anderson for doctor of business, Orrin G. Hatch for doctor of laws, L. Ralph Mecham for doctor of laws, Mickey Ibarra for doctor of humane letters, Carmen B. Pingree for doctor of education and James L. Sorenson for doctor of science.

The Rosenblatt Prize, a $40,000 cash award and the most prestigious honor the University bestows on its faculty, will be announced as well.

The Distinguished Teaching Award recipients for this year are: Daniel Adams, associate professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Kenneth Golden, professor, Department of Mathematics; Barry Stults, clinical professor, Department of Internal Medicine; and Don Wardell, associate professor, Department of Management.

The Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Research Award recipients are: Chris M. Ireland, professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, and Scott L. Anderson, professor, Department of Chemistry. The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Paul Florsheim, associate professor, Department of Psychology.

The 2007 Distinguished Professors are: Brenda Bass, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry; Mary Beckerle, Distinguished Professor of Biology; Cynthia Burrows, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry; James O’Connell, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; and Anil Virkar, Distinguished Professor of Material Science and Engineering.

The University will recognize the 2007 Honors Professor, Margaret Toscano, assistant professor, Department of Languages & Literature; the 2007 Bennion Center Public Service Professor, Caitlin Cahill, Department of Family & Consumer Studies; and the Presidential Professor, Arthur Brief, Presidential Professor of Management.

The 2007 University Professors, Keith Bartholomew, assistant professor, College of Architecture + Planning and Mira Locher, assistant professor, College of Architecture + Planning, will be recognized along with Granite School District’s Rebecca Brough as the Outstanding School Teacher.

Twenty-five students who are service-learning scholars from the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center will also be recognized.

Convocations for the Colleges of Health, Nursing and Social Work will be held the day before the University’s commencement, on Thursday, May 3, 2007. The College of Health convocation will be held at 5 p.m. in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The College of Nursing ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. in Kingsbury Hall. The College of Social Work convocation will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Kingsbury Hall.

Individual colleges will hold convocations on Friday, May 4 at the following locations and times:

• College of Social & Behavioral Science: Jon M. Huntsman Center, 1:45 p.m.


• College of Architecture + Planning: Olpin Union Ballroom, 11:30 a.m.


• College of Mines and Earth Sciences: Fine Arts Auditorium, 11:30 a.m.


• College of Pharmacy: Olpin Union Ballroom, 1:30 p.m.


• College of Science: Kingsbury Hall, 1:30 p.m.


• College of Education: Kingsbury Hall, 3:30 p.m.


• College of Humanities: Jon M. Huntsman Center, 6:45 p.m.


• College of Fine Arts: Kingsbury Hall, 11:30 a.m.


• David Eccles School of Business: Jon M. Huntsman Center, 4:15 p.m.


• College of Engineering: Jon M. Huntsman Center, 11:15 a.m.

Commencement ceremonies for the S. J. Quinney College of Law will be held Friday, May 11, at 10 a.m., in Kingsbury Hall. The School of Medicine will hold commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 19, at 10 a.m., in Kingsbury Hall.

Campus parking lots may be used at no charge during commencement and convocation ceremonies. As campus parking is limited, graduates and their guests are encouraged to use the free U shuttle service to travel between commencement events. Shuttles run throughout campus and are scheduled every 10 minutes. TRAX will provide a free fare zone on campus that day.

Media interested in making arrangements for a feed to the University’s commencement exercises through KUED-Channel 7, the University’s public television station, should contact U.S. Satellite directly at 801-263-0519. KUED-Channel 7 will rebroadcast the May 4 commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 5, at 4:30 p.m.