UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 17, Page 1
January 21, 1993
Carpenter Center hosts first academic ceremony

     Some 600 students were the center of attraction Jan. 9 as they
gathered on the floor of the Bob Carpenter Center's Acierno Arena for
Winter Commencement, surrounded on all sides by friends and family.
     Complementing the students' blue caps and gowns, the center was
dressed for the day with blue banners and blue and gold bunting, marking
its first use for an academic ceremony.
     University President David P. Roselle opened the ceremony with
welcoming remarks. He noted in particular the many links that the day
represented for the graduates-links with fellow classmates and to the
University.
     "The honor and achievements which you will continue to bring to
yourselves will serve to increase the value of (your) diploma, not only for
yourselves but for all graduates of the University of Delaware," he said.
"You really are the University's link to the future."
     Roselle introduced the day's keynote speaker, Andrew M. Stern, a
University alumnus who chairs the board and is chief executive officer of
Sunwest Communications Inc., a public relations firm in Dallas.
     In a speech that included quotes from Groucho Marx and Harry Truman,
Stern took a moment to salute two members of the University who played an
important role during his days here in the late 1960s: James R. Soles, now
Distinguished Alumni Professor of Political Science and International
Relations, and Stuart J. Sharkey, now vice president for student life.
     He also paid tribute to the man he went to work for when he left the
University-former Wilmington Mayor Harry G. Haskell Jr.
     "It's important for me to thank Hal Haskell today for his interest in
young people on this campus," Stern said, "and to recognize him as much for
his accomplishments as for the attitude that allowed him to accomplish so
much and inspire so many."
     Haskell taught him the importance of action, he said. "Hal, I will
always remember, said, 'Let's make 10 decisions a day. If we make six of
them right, we've had a helluva day!' I've tried to follow that
advice-making things happen-for more than 20 years."
     Action is an important message for the nation as well, he said. After
20 years of committees, task forces and panels studying the nation's
problems, the message for the 1990s is "just do it," Stern said.
     American voters who elected Bill Clinton and the members of the 103rd
Congress expect "solutions not studies, action not talk," he said.
     Also at the ceremony, G. Burton Pearson Jr., a member of the
University's Board of Trustees for more than 40 years, conferred an
honorary doctor of humane letters degree on Anna Janney DeArmond, professor
emeritus of English.
     In the citation, Pearson hailed her as a "distinguished educator,"
adding that her "dedication to the University of Delaware and to education
has inspired students since the beginning of (her) career more than 50
years ago....
     "As a former student has said about you...," Pearson said, "'Jan
DeArmond has been my teacher and my friend for more than 35 years, and all
of you will recognize instantly just how redundant that statement is-for
the first thing any student discovers about Jan DeArmond is that if you are
her student, she is your friend.'"
     DeArmond was the first recipient of the University's
excellence-in-teaching award in 1954, and she received it a second time in
1972. She also was the first woman in the University's history to be
promoted to full professor and the first woman to teach a women's studies
course. In 1985, she was the first woman faculty member to receive the
University's Medal of Distinction for contributions in the areas of
professional achievement and public service of national or international
significance.
     Before the awarding of degrees to students, Delaware Gov. Dale E. Wolf
awarded a posthumous degree to the family of the late Evelyn M. Fiorito.
Ms. Fiorito, who died Nov. 26, 1992, was awarded a Ph.D. in psychology.
     "Beyond Evelyn's academic achievement is a greater message for all of
us," Wolf said. "She was described by her adviser as the fabric of the
department-not just an ordinary student-but one who held things together
for her peers, faculty and staff of the department."