Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. to speak at UD Commencement May 31
Cal Ripken Jr.
2:15 p.m., April 8, 2008--Baseball icon Cal Ripken Jr., a Hall of Fame player who broke Lou Gehrig's seemingly unassailable record for consecutive games played as a member of the Baltimore Orioles, will speak at the University of Delaware's 159th Commencement exercises, scheduled at 9 a.m., Saturday, May 31, in Delaware Stadium on the Newark campus, UD President Patrick Harker has announced.

The outdoor ceremony, which is held rain or shine, is open to the public.

“We are delighted that Cal Ripken, whose stellar accomplishments both on and off the field have contributed to the betterment of baseball and our society at large, has accepted the invitation to address Delaware graduates, their families and friends at the 2008 Commencement exercises,” Harker said. “Cal is a model of strength and resolve whose loyalty and contributions to the game of baseball are unparalleled.”

Ripken, who retired in 2001 after 21 seasons with the Orioles, is Major League Baseball's all-time “iron man” and a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, where he delivered a memorable induction speech before a huge crowd on July 29, 2007.

At the Commencement ceremony, Ripken will receive an honorary degree from the University, along with Charles M. Cawley, former president and chief executive officer of MBNA Corporation; E. Wayne Craven, H.F. du Pont Professor Emeritus of Art History at the University; Stephanie L. Kwolek of DuPont, whose research in synthetic fibers served as the basis for the development of Kevlar; University President Emeritus David P. Roselle and his wife Louise D. Roselle; and U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine).

The Honorary Degree Class of 2008

Cal Ripken Jr.

Ripken broke one of baseball's most revered records when he passed Gehrig's mark of 2,130 consecutive games played in 1995, and raised the number to 2,632 before voluntarily ending the streak in 1998. He is one of only eight players in history to achieve 400 home runs and 3,000 hits and, before ending his career at third base, redefined the position of shortstop.

Ripken's name has become synonymous with strength, character, endurance and integrity. His philosophy of working hard, playing with passion and enjoying the game has made a tremendous impact on the sport and on fans everywhere. Today, Ripken is using the platform that baseball has provided him to help grow the game he loves.

After retiring, Ripken led the construction of a unique baseball complex in his hometown of Aberdeen, Md. The Aberdeen Project consists of Ripken Stadium, a state-of-the-art 6,000-seat minor league ballpark that is home to the Class A Aberdeen IronBirds, and the Ripken Youth Baseball Academy, featuring several youth-sized fields modeled after famous big league stadiums.

His role as an ambassador for the game was taken to a new level last year when Ripken was named a public diplomacy envoy by the State Department, traveling the world to teach baseball to youngsters and to represent the United States.

Ripken is the best-selling author of several books, including the autobiography The Only Way I Know, the children's book The Longest Season that teaches kids how to learn from difficult experiences, and several guides for players, parents and coaches.

Believing in the value of giving back to the community, Ripken and his family in 2001 established the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, honoring his late father, the longtime Orioles coach. The foundation helps teach life lessons through baseball to disadvantaged youth and provides them life-changing experiences.

Ripken lives in Maryland with his wife, Kelly, and their children, Rachel and Ryan.

Charles M. Cawley

Cawley, who served as a member of the University of Delaware Board of Trustees from 1994-2007, has more than 40 years of management experience in the financial services industry. He was the senior member of the management team that established MBNA in 1982. A graduate of Georgetown University, he has served on the boards of the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Del., St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, N.J., the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation and the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League.

E. Wayne Craven

Craven joined the University faculty in 1960 as a leading authority on American sculpture and on Colonial American portraiture. During his tenure, Craven was part of a team that led the Department of Art History to international excellence. He coordinated the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture for five years and received the Francis Alison Award, the University's highest faculty honor. Craven is the author of several important books, including Sculpture in America, Colonial American Portraiture, American Art: History and Culture and the forthcoming Gilded Mansions. He studied at the John Herron Art School, earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Indiana University and received a doctorate from Columbia University.

Stephanie L. Kwolek

Kwolek is a world-renowned chemist who joined DuPont in 1946, after graduating from Margaret Morrison Carnegie College, then the women's college of Carnegie-Mellon University. At DuPont, she developed a deep interest in polymer research and began working toward the next generation of high-performance fibers. She invented liquid crystalline solutions of stiff-chained aromatic polyamides and the technology to produce high-strength fibers from them. The research served as the basis for the development of the well-known Kevlar aramid fiber by DuPont and resulted in numerous awards for Kwolek, including the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention in 1980, induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1994, the National Medal of Technology in 1996 and the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry Perkin Medal in 1997.

David and Louise Roselle

David Roselle served as president of the University from 1990-2007. Over that time, the Roselles raised the institution's profile through a focus on the central goals of making it a more student-centered institution, providing competitive compensation for faculty and staff, providing increased scholarship and fellowship support, and improving the living and learning environment. Through their leadership, the Campaign for Delaware raised more than $400 million, the University endowment grew by $1 billion, student applications skyrocketed to more than 20,000 per year, named professorships soared to more than 110, research grants and contracts quadrupled, and an emphasis on undergraduate research and study abroad led to important opportunities for students. The Louise and David Roselle Center for the Arts was named in their honor, and the couple received the prestigious Josiah Marvel Cup from the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce in 2007 for their community service.

Olympia J. Snowe

Snowe has been serving the people of Maine as an elected official since 1973, when she was elected to the Maine House of Representatives seat left vacant by the death of her first husband, the late Peter Snowe. Five years later she was the youngest Republican woman, and the first Greek-American woman, ever elected to the U.S. Congress. Snowe was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, earning a reputation as a leading moderate and focusing her attention on efforts to build bipartisan consensus on key issues. She is a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. She is a graduate of the University of Maine.

For additional details on Commencement, visit [www.udel.edu/vp-sec/commencement.html].