Elder Merrill J. Bateman, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and former president of Brigham Young University, will receive an honorary Doctorate of Christian Service during BYU's April 2006 Commencement Exercises Thursday, April 27, at 4 p.m. in the Marriott Center.
Commencement Exercises will honor 6,401 graduates, 1,736 of whom completed their course work in December. The December and April graduates will receive 5,478 bachelor's degrees, 721 master's degrees and 202 doctoral degrees.
Elder Richard G. Scott, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ, will preside at the exercises, and Elder Robert D. Hales, also a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, will conduct the exercises and be the commencement speaker.
Elder Cecil O. Samuelson, president of BYU and a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of the Church, graduating senior Andrew Jonathan Maxfield and BYU Alumni Association President Craig McIlroy will also speak during the exercises.
The Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Kory Katseanes, will provide music.
Both KBYU-TV (Channel 11) and KBYU-FM (89.1) will broadcast the exercises live.
The academic processional to the Marriott Center for graduates, representatives of the BYU administration, faculty and staff will leave the Abraham Smoot Building parking areas on Thursday at 3:20 p.m.
Most campus offices will close Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
A "Meet the President" event, where President Samuelson and his wife, Sharon, will greet graduates and their parents, will take place Friday, April 28, from 9 to 11 a.m. in the Museum of Art.
Also on Friday, the Air Force ROTC program will commission 16 graduating students at 4 p.m. in the Varsity Theater of the Wilkinson Student Center, while the Army ROTC will commission eight graduating cadets at 4 p.m. in the Crabtree Building Auditorium.
Individual College Convocation assignments for Friday are as follows:
From 8 to 10:30 a.m.:
Biology and Agriculture in the Marriott Center
David O. McKay School of Education in the Smith Fieldhouse
David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies in the Joseph Smith Building Auditorium
Physical and Mathematical Sciences in the Wilkinson Student Center Ballroom
Fine Arts and Communications (Music, Theatre and Media Arts) in the de Jong Concert Hall
Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology (Technology) in the Provo Tabernacle From 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.:
Humanities in the Marriott Center
Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology (Engineering) in the Smith Fieldhouse
Nursing in the Joseph Smith Building Auditorium
Family, Home and Social Science (Family Life) in the Wilkinson Student Center Ballroom
Fine Arts and Communications (Communications) in the de Jong Concert Hall From 2 to 4:30 p.m.:
Family, Home and Social Science in the Marriott Center
Family, Home and Social Science (Social Work) in the Wilkinson Student Center Ballroom
Health and Human Performance in the Smith Fieldhouse
Fine Arts and Communications (Visual Arts) in the de Jong Concert Hall
J. Reuben Clark Law School in the Provo Tabernacle From 5 to 7:30 p.m.:
Marriott School of Management in the Marriott Center Graduates and their guests are asked to refrain from using cellular phones during the Commencement Exercises and College Convocations.
Elder Bateman served as president of BYU from Jan. 1, 1996, until May 1, 2003. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics at the University of Utah in 1960 and went on to receive his doctorate in that subject from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965.
Prior to serving as dean of the BYU School of Management from 1975 to 1979, Elder Bateman headed his own consulting and capital management companies. He was also an executive with Mars, Inc., in England and the United States.
Elder Bateman was called to serve in the Second Quorum of the Seventy in June of 1992 and was sustained as Presiding Bishop of the Church on April 2, 1994. Concurrent with his service as BYU president, he was called as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.
For more information, visit BYU's Graduation Web site at saas.byu.edu/depts/graduation.
Writer: Brian Rust
