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OPRAH WINFREY DELIVERS KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT
WELLESLEY COLLEGE 1997 COMMENCEMENT
Wellesley, Mass. -- Presiding over Wellesley College's
119th Commencement exercises, President Diana Chapman Walsh
today presented Bachelor of Arts degrees to 546 women,
including 19 Davis Scholars. The ceremonies were held
beneath a large white tent on Severance Green in the center
of campus.
Members of the Class of 1997 come from 47 states and
three territories (the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,
the U.S. Virgin Islands), and 23 countries around the world.
Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, actress, producer,
philanthropist and business leader, addressed the Class of
1997. Ms. Winfrey is chairman of HARPO Entertainment Group
in Chicago. Through HARPO Productions, she produces
prime-time specials, made-for-television movies and
children's specials for ABC, and "The Oprah Winfrey Show,"
the highest-rated talk show in television history, which is
seen by 15 million viewers a day in the United States and is
televised in 132 countries. The show has received 30 Emmy
Awards, six of which went to the host. Oprah Winfrey has
been awarded broadcasting's highest distinction, the George
Foster Peabody Individual Achievement Award. In 1991, Ms.
Winfrey initiated The National Child Protection Act and
testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to
establish a national database of all convicted child
abusers. In December, 1993, President Clinton signed the
national "Oprah Bill" into law. She recently joined
President Clinton and Colin Powell at the national summit on
volunteerism. Her show's year-long series, "Oprah's
ChildAlert," has been dedicated to empowering viewers with
information and solutions to improve the lives of children.
Oprah Winfrey has received both Golden Globe and Academy
Award nominations for her role in Steven Spielberg's "The
Color Purple." She has also been instrumental in moving 100
minority families out of housing projects, and established
educational scholarships for hundreds of students at schools
and universities across the country.
Janet M. Hostetler, an honors graduate, delivered the
Student Commencement Speech on behalf of the graduating
class, a tradition begun at Wellesley in 1969 by another
graduating senior, Hillary Rodham Clinton. A resident of
Derwood, Maryland, Ms. Hostetler was named a 1996 Truman
Scholar and spent her junior year abroad, studying in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, and Puebla, Mexico. In January 1996, she
was a student at Centro de Estudios Multiculturales in
Cuernavaca, Mexico. This year she was awarded a Fulbright
grant for study in Australia. She plans a career in public
policy.
President Walsh announced three new academic chairs
honoring three loyal alumnae whose graduation years span
more than five decades at Wellesley College:
- The Theodora Stone Sutton Professorship in Classics
honors Theodora Stone Sutton, a member of the class of
1925, who died last month at the age of 93. The first
holder of the Sutton chair will be Professor of Greek and
Latin Raymond Starr.
- Barbara Morris Caspersen, a member of the class of
1967, and her husband Finn, have established the Barbara
Morris Caspersen Associate Professorship in the
Humanities. The new chair will enhance the study and
teaching of literature, language, the arts and other
areas associated with the humanities. The first holder of
the Casperson chair will be Professor of Philosophy
Allison McIntyre.
- In honor of this year's 100th birthday of Madame
Chiang Kai-shek, the National Women's League of the
Republic of China has endowed a chair in her name: the
Mayling Soong Professorship in Chinese Studies. Mayling
Soong, who married the late Chinese General Chiang
Kai-shek in 1927 and went on to become a pivotal figure
in 20th century international affairs, is a 1917
Wellesley alumna now living in New York. Madame Chiang
Kai-shek founded the National Women's League, a women's
social service organization. As an English major who
served as her husband's English translator in meetings
with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Madame Chiang
appreciated the importance of language and cultural
studies to East-West understanding. The League, whose
Secretary General is Cecilia Y. Koo, today is an
international women's organization dedicated to
supporting cultural initiatives. The first holder of the
Soong chair honoring this distinguished alumna will be
Jing-Heng Ma, Professor of Chinese language.
President Walsh also announced three new appointments to
existing chairs:
- The Anne Pierce Rogers Professorship in American
Literature, established in 1986, will be held permanently
by Professor of English Lawrence Rosenwald.
- The William R. Kenan Professorship, established in
1975 as a rotating chair, will now be held by Professor
of Sociology Susan Silbey.
- The Whitehead Associate Professorship in Critical
Thought will be held by Associate Professor of Art
History Patricia Berman.
Three Wellesley College trustees completed their
distinguished tenure on the Board of Trustees this spring:
William L. Saltonstall of Manchester-by-the-Sea,
Massachusetts; The Rev. Peter J. Gomes of Cambridge,
Massachusetts; and Ellen Gill Miller of Arlington,
Massachusetts.
- Peter Gomes has served as a Wellesley Trustee since
1985. He is the Christopher Plummer Professor of
Christian Morals at Harvard University and the Minister
of Harvard's Memorial Church.
- Ellen Gill Miller, a 1973 graduate of Wellesley, was
elected to the board as Alumna Trustee in 1994 as she
began her term as president of the Alumnae Association.
She is founder and vice president of a real estate
investment management and advisory firm in Bethesda,
Maryland.
- William L. Saltonstall has served as a Wellesley
College trustee since 1979. He is partner, Saltonstall
and Co., and a former Massachusetts state senator.
In gratitude for his service in virtually every capacity
during the past 18 years, the full term permitted for tenure
on the board, his fellow trustees have elected Bill
Saltonstall a Trustee Emeritus.
Three winners of the 1997 Pinanski Prize for Excellence
in Teaching, Wellesley's highest teaching honor, were
announced.
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