Noted Delaware historian Carol E. Hoffecker, a 1960 UD graduate, will be the featured speaker at the University's Winter Commencement, scheduled at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 6, in the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center.

Each year, a distinguished UD graduate is invited to speak at Winter Commencement, which recognizes students who complete their degree requirements in August and December.

Also at the ceremony, Alexander F. Giacco, former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hercules Inc., will be awarded an honorary degree.

Attendance at graduation is voluntary, but all participants are required to be in academic regalia, which can be ordered from the University Bookstore, telephone 831-2637.

Each graduating student is entitled to a maximum of six guest tickets, which will be available at the Student Services Building from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Dec. 4-8. Since seating is limited, the ceremony is open only to graduates and their families.

Seating for the ceremony is on a first-come, first-served basis.

A native Delawarean, Hoffecker is the Richards Professor of History at UD and also serves as University historian. She was named Delaware Professor of the Year in 1999 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

After earning a Ph.D. in history at Harvard University in 1967, she accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Hagley Museum and Library, where she researched and wrote several books concerning the history of Wilmington.

Since joining UD's Department of History in 1973, she has continued to write and lecture on topics relating to the First State. A new book, Familiar Relations: The du Ponts and the University of Delaware, is currently being printed on campus and will be available for sale in UD's Bookstore next month, Honest John Williams, U.S. Senator from Delaware was published earlier this year by the University of Delaware Press.

Her other books include Wilmington, Delaware, Portrait of an Industrial City: 1830-1900; Brandywine Village, Corporate Capital: Wilmington in the 20th Century; Wilmington: A Pictorial History; Delaware: A Bicentennial History; Federal Justice in the First State; Books, Bricks and Bibliophiles: The University of Delaware Library (with John Munroe, H. Rodney Sharp Professor Emeritus of History); Beneath Thy Guiding Hand: A History of Women at the University of Delaware; and Unidel: A Foundation for University Enrichment.

For additional information on Winter Commencement activities, including accommodations for persons with disabilities, contact the Office of Alumni and University Relations at 831-8741.