August 15, 2003

Great Faculty Traditions

By JENNIFER JACOBSON

The graduating class at Hope College has selected a professor to give its commencement address each year since the early 1980s. Gordon Van Wylen, a former president of the college, in Holland, Mich., began the tradition after receiving complaints that outsiders' speeches usually failed to resonate with the graduates. A committee of seniors selects the speaker. So far, no professor has been invited back to give a second speech.

For more than 20 years, Susquehanna University faculty