This year's main commencement speaker will be Johnnetta Cole, the former president of Spelman College who's often referred to as "Sister President." Known as an inspiring and dynamic speaker, Cole has been a prominent voice in American education for more than a decade.
Johnnetta Cole, former president of Spelman College and a prominent voice in American education for more than a decade, will be the principal speaker at May 24 commencement exercises. An accomplished scholar and academic administrator who was the first African American woman to serve as Spelman's president, Cole currently serves as Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women's Studies, and African American Studies at Emory University. Textbooks written and edited by Cole are used in classrooms throughout U.S. colleges and universities. Her 1993 book, Conversations: Straight Talk with America's Sister President, continues to be widely read. Cole's most recent book is Dream the Boldest Dreams: And Other Lessons of Life.
Cole will be one of five honorary degree recipients at commencement. This year, for the first time, the other honorary degree recipients will also speak briefly, each delivering a short charge to the class of 1998. They will be: Mary E. Clutter, Anita L. DeFrantz, Nancy Gustafson '78, and Lilian M. C. Randall '50.
Mary E. Clutter, assistant director, biological sciences, of the National Science Foundation. She has enhanced opportunities for women in the sciences during her time at NSF. Clutter's achievements--which have earned her two meritorious and distinguished executive presidential rank awards--include establishing NSF's Visiting Professorships for Women Program and the chairship of the Task Force on Women in Science and Engineering.
Anita L. DeFrantz, vice president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). An attorney and 1976 Olympic bronze medalist in rowing, she is the first woman to serve as vice president of the IOC, and has been called "the most powerful woman in sports" by the Los Angeles Times. DeFrantz has been a tireless advocate for children and for women's athletics and has been awarded numerous national prizes for her work.
Nancy Gustafson '78, internationally acclaimed opera singer. The soprano's career covers some of the most challenging roles in the lyric-dramatic repertoire. To name just two, she has appeared as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata in Vienna and Munich, and as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at La Scala, the Weiner Staatsoper, the Beyerischer Staatsoper in Munich, and, most recently, at Covent Garden.
Lilian M. C. Randall '50, retired research curator of manuscripts at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore. An internationally known scholar, Randall is the author of Images in the Margins of Gothic Manuscripts, a highly influential work that is widely referenced by art historians and medievalists. She has also published extensively about medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.
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