May 2009 Commencement
Class of 2009
Your big day is about to arrive!
On behalf of Dean Cheng-i Wei, and the Office of Academic Programs, AGNR, the College would like to offer you early congratulations on successful completion of a rigorous program of study and pass along some information related to this May's Commencement ceremonies.
CAMPUS
Campus-wide Commencement is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., Thursday, May 21, 2009 in the Comcast Center. Students should be robed and assembled for the processional at 5:45 p.m. in the auxiliary gym (ground level). Your guests should be seated by 6:30 p.m. if they wish to see the processional. Notices will be posted so that guests will know from which side of the arena each college will process. Parking will be open in Lot 4B and the Terrapin Trail Garage. The Processional will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. President Mote will confer degrees following a program which will include a student speaker, Reginald Dwayne Betts. There will also be a featured student-selected commencement speaker, Leon Edward Panetta.
Student Speaker: Reginald Dwayne Betts
Reginald Dwayne Betts' "firsts" land on opposite ends of a spectrum. He graduates from college this month as the first from his family to do so-- just over a decade after becoming its first felon.
He was an honor roll student from Suitland when he was convicted of armed carjacking at age 16. Following nine years in a state prison, Betts picked up where he left off, earning an associate's degree from Prince George's Community College.
Then, he says, the University of Maryland took a chance on him and helped him develop his talent as a writer.
"If I had gone to college younger, I wouldn't have cared about it," he says. "You have to engage with professors and are exposed to hundreds if not thousands of students. You have to open your world up."
Now Betts is graduating with a bachelor's degree in English. His memoir, "A Question of Freedom," will be published by Penguin in August.
While at Prince George's, he served in the student government as vice president for academic affairs, Phi Theta Kappa honor society president, and editor of the college's literary journal. He also worked full-time and began leading poetry workshops with students at Hart Middle School in Southeast Washington, D.C.
Writing helped keep him sane, he says. "Poetry is an attempt to say the truest thing in a way that everybody will hear it, in the fewest amount of words. From the time I was incarcerated, I wrote my way out of that world."
Two summers ago, Betts received a work-study scholarship for the prestigious Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Middlebury, VT, where he worked with Michael Collier, professor of English at Maryland. Shortly after, Betts received a Transfer Academic Excellence Scholarship. He balanced a full-time academic schedule with work and raising his 17-month-old son with his wide Terese.
Josh Weiner, Maryland associate professor of English, taught Betts in a poetry workshop and supervised his independent study on poetic form and theory. Of Betts' writings he says, "They are emotionally rich, psychologically intense poems, full of a tough, exquisite music." Betts has been nominated for a Pushcart Award and recently won the Beatrice Hawley Prize from Alice James Books for a collection of poetry. Additionally, he was awarded a Holden Fellowship, a full tuition scholarship for Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, where he will pursue a master of fine arts degree in poetry.
Betts is grateful for the opportunities he was given at Maryland and intends to pay it forward. "It's difficult to see, right after trouble, that someone is deserving of an opportunity. People are dying from the lack of opportunity every day," he says. "I'm really blessed."
Main Speaker: Leon Edward Panetta
Leon Edward Panetta continues his longtime commitment to public service as the 19th director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Selected by President Barak Obama, Panetta was appointed director of the CIA on February 13. He leads the agency and manages human intelligence and open source collection programs that support the entire intelligence community.
His commitment to service is extensive. Before joining the CIA, Panetta and his wife Sylvia spent 10 years directing the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, which is based at California State University in Monterey Bay. The institute is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit center that instills in young men and women the values and virtues of public service.
Panetta earned a bachelor of arts degree in political science and a law degree from Santa Clara University in California. He has served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Thomas H. Kuchel of California; special assistant to the secretary of health, education, and welfare; director of the U.S. Office for Civil Rights; and executive assistant to former May John Lindsay of New York. Panetta served as an Army intelligence officer from 1964 to 1966 and received the Army Commendation medal. He also spent five years practicing private law.
Before serving as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton from July 1994 to January 1997, Panetta directed the Office of Management and Budget, a position that built upon years of work on the House Budget Committee. He represented California's 16th (now 17th) Congressional District from 1977 to 1993 and rose to chair of the budget committee during his final four years in Congress. In March 2006, Panetta was chosen as a member of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan group established to conduct an independent assessment of the war in Iraq.
Panetta was born in Monterey, California, where his Italian immigrant parents operated a restaurant. Later, they purchased a farm in Carmel Valley-- a place the Panetta family continues to call home. The Panettas have three sons and five grandchildren.
College of Agriculture & Natural Resources
The formal graduation ceremony for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources will be held at 4:00 p.m., Friday, May 22, 2009 in the University's Memorial Chapel. All candidates should be gowned and report to the upper rear concourse (upstairs and at the rear of the Main Chapel) by 3:15 p.m. Department/Major signs will be posted and candidates will line up at their appropriate sign and under the direction of faculty marshals. The processional will begin at 4:00 p.m. with the platform party which includes the Dean, college officials, and special guests. Following the platform party will be the faculty. The student processional will then enter the along the side corridors of the main chapel, wait until platform party and faculty are positioned, and then process down the center aisle, and then back to the front for seating.
Student Speakers: Amanda M. Garzio-Hadzick and Zane Zachary Hadzick
Amanda Garzio-Hadzick and Zane Hadzick are not your typical young married couple. Both are graduating Summa Cum Laude with 4.0 GPAs and with high honors in Environmental Science and Policy. Zane and Amanda were both recipients of the James and Patricia Miller Outstanding Senior Scholarship Award, as well as the 2009 Gamma Sigma Delta Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award. Both were selected for the 2009 Environmental Science and Technology Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award. Amanda and Zane are both members of the Primannum Honor Society, as well as the prestigious Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Additionally, Amanda was selected to receive the 2009 Maryland Outstanding Senior Award by the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America.
Amanda and Zane were both members of the University of Maryland Soil Judging Team, which placed fourth overall at the National Soil Judging Contest. They also helped to plan the 2008 Recycle Mania Competition to encourage recycling on campus. Currently, they are both Research Assistants at the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Amanda and Zane's research includes a study of the survival of E. coli in stream sediments bordering an agricultural field.
After graduation, Zane and Amanda plan to take some time to explore their career options and gain further research and work experience at the USDA Agricultural Research Service. They then plan to enter graduate school to attain a higher degree in Environmental Science.
Student Speaker: Sarah Katherine Scholl
While completing her degree requirements in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Sarah Scholl maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA among courses in her food science major. She is the recipient of the AGNR Alumni Award for Outstanding Graduating Senior, as well as the Dr. Thomas A. Fretz Scholarship for Leadership. Sarah was also a 2008 recipient of the President's Cup Community Service Award. Last year, Sarah was chosen to serve as the first Food Science Ambassador. In this role, she has spoken about the food science profession to various campus and community groups.
Sarah has worked as an intern for the Institute of Food Technologies (ITF), where she conducted literature research for a task force commissioned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She also attended the national ITF meeting last year in New Orleans, as well as several meetings of the local DC and Maryland section of ITF.
In addition to her academic success, Sarah has been involved in intercollegiate athletics during her four years at Maryland as a member of the Maryland varsity field hockey team. During that time, she helped her team win the ACC title in 2005 and 2008, as well as the NCAA National Championship in 2005, 2006, and 2008. Sarah was named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association's National Academic Squad for three consecutive years, and to the All-ACC Academic Team. Juggling the daily three-hour field hockey practices, game day trips, and the rigorous coursework of the food science major has surely been no easy feat. Yet Sarah has excelled both in the classroom and on the field.
After graduation, Sarah will attend the University of Illinois, where she has been awarded a fellowship to study food chemistry. She will be doing research on water activity and chemistry of food components.
General Information
Don't be late for your own graduation! Expect some congestion on Route 1 for both the main campus and college ceremonies. Allow plenty of time to negotiate traffic. Parking will be free but only at designated locations on campus campus (except for gated lots) since both days are regular university work days. Therefore, the lot at the Chapel (gated) is unlikely to be available to graduates or guests. Plan on using the visitor parking in the Regents Drive parking garage or one of the other visitor lots on campus. Make your parking plans accordingly. Be sure to visit the campus web site for more information on the main commencement ceremony.
For information on renting regalia, please go to: UM Regalia. If you require wheelchair access or have other special needs, please contact Donna Walther in the Academic Programs Office.
For more information, contact Dr. Ray Stricklin
Last updated: 05/28/2009