Evergreen Graduates Record-1,360 Students at 33rd Commencement Ceremony

The Evergreen State College, Olympia
Friday, June 11, 2004
Red Square, rain or shine
1:00-4:30 p.m. (end time est.)
Free and open to the public

The class of 2004 is the largest ever to graduate from The Evergreen State College, with 1,256 undergraduates and 104 graduates expected to pick up their degrees. The previous record was set in 2000, when the college graduated a total of 1,324 students. Last year, 1,232 students graduated.

Commencement is scheduled for Friday, June 11 on Red Square at the Olympia campus, starting at 1 p.m., rain or shine. Environmental activist and educator Dr. Vandana Shiva is the keynote speaker at the event, which is free and open to the public.

Evergreen will award 1,037 bachelor of arts, 159 bachelor of science, 60 bachelor of arts and science combined, 38 master of teaching, 32 master of environmental studies and 34 master of public administration degrees.

The class of 2004 selected Shiva as graduation speaker. She is a physicist, ecologist, activist, editor and author who has long championed the issue of sustainability. She established Navdanya, a movement for biodiversity conservation and farmers' rights, in her home country of India and directs the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy. Shiva's most recent books are "Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge" and "Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply."

Graduation addresses will be given by Dr. Oscar Soule, Evergreen faculty member who will be awarded the rank of emeritus by the college's board of trustees later this spring; Colleen F. Cawston, a candidate for a master of public administration degree; and Justus Stewart, who will receive a bachelor's degree.

The 2004 class theme is Gandhi's "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Commencement will be carried live on KAOS Community Radio at 89.3 FM.

Graduates of The Evergreen State College-Tacoma will be honored at a celebration on Saturday, June 12 starting at 3 p.m. at Jason Lee Middle School. Evergreen Tacoma faculty members Dr. Gilda Sheppard and Dr. Lowell "Duke" Kuehn are the featured speakers. These 107 students will receive their bachelor degrees during the Friday Olympia commencement.

The Evergreen State College, a public, four-year college of arts and sciences, annually enrolls more than 4,100 students. Evergreen opened its doors in 1971. Since then, it has become a national leader in the development of interdisciplinary learning communities that combine and coordinate several academic subjects that are traditionally taught separately. Contact: Kate Lykins Brown, (360) 867-5213
Steve Hunter, associate vice president for Enrollment Management,
(360) 867-6310