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Perfect Day for A Commencement

Attorney General Eric Holder calls on the Class of 2010 to “improve the world around you”

| From Commonwealth

Complete coverage of Boston University’s 137th Commencement from BU Today

Casting aside the tradition of recent years, a benevolent sun shone on Nickerson Field as 6,000-plus students and their families and friends gathered for BU’s 137th Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 16. U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., the Commencement speaker, told the graduates that they have what it takes to tackle the serious troubles that plague the nation.

“From this day forward, you must do your part to improve the world around you,” Holder said. “As of today, you not only have the ability and the credibility, you also have the responsibility.”

AIDS activist, physician, and researcher Wafaa El-Sadr (Hon.’10) gave the Baccalaureate address. Photograph by Matt Kalinowski

Honorary degrees were presented to Holder, Doctor of Laws; playwright Edward Albee, Doctor of Letters; civil rights lawyer and Ford administration transportation secretary William T. Coleman, Jr., Doctor of Laws; Nobel-winning chemist and School of Medicine Professor Emeritus Osamu Shimomura, Doctor of Science; and Wafaa El-Sadr, a Columbia University professor of medicine and epidemiology and an activist for HIV prevention and care in poor nations, Doctor of Science. El-Sadr delivered the Baccalaureate address, and Jonathan L. Priester (COM’10), an advertising major, was the Commencement student speaker.

Boston University also honored the Class of 1970.

The University’s highest teaching honors were given to J. Gregory McDaniel, an associate professor in the College of Engineering, the Metcalf Cup and Prize, and to John Caradonna, an associate professor of chemistry in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Sandra Nicolucci (CFA’68,’69, SED’77), an associate professor of music and music education in the College of Fine Arts, Metcalf Awards.

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