Category: Commencement
Metcalf Cup and Prize First Awarded
The Metcalf Cup and Prize and the Metcalf Awards for Excellence in Teaching are first awarded. These teaching honors are created by an endowment from the late Dr. Arthur G. B. Metcalf, Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees.
John H. Knowles Keynote Address
President of the Rockefeller Foundation John H. Knowles delivers the Keynote Address at Commencement.
First Overseas Commencement
The first Overseas Program Commencement is held in Heidelberg, Germany in June. The program is the first to offer graduate degrees to members of the US Army in Europe.
Harry Agganis Graduates
One memorable Sunday in June 1954, Harry Agganis hits a home run at Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox and then races up Commonwealth Avenue to receive his Boston University degree. Known as the Golden Greek, Agganis is a Terriers football, baseball, and basketball standout who rejects an offer from football’s Cleveland Browns to play baseball with the Red Sox. Sadly, a vibrant young life and a promising future are cut tragically short a year later when Agganis dies of a massive pulmonary embolism at the age of twenty-six. Boston University is proud of the Agganis Arena in the Student Village, the most recent tribute to this extraordinary individual who left us far too soon.
Wonder Woman Makes Her Debut
Elizabeth Holloway Marston (Class of 1918) is the inspiration for the character Wonder Woman, who makes her debut in All-Star Comics. Her husband, William Moulton Marston, creates the character, who triumphs with love instead of fists or firepower.
Photo courtesy and original Wonder Woman material courtesy of Moulton "Pete" Marston
First Japanese LAW Graduate
Takeo Kikuchi is the first Japanese graduate of Boston University School of Law.
First Commencement
The first general Commencement is held.
First Black LAW Graduate
Emanuel Hewlett is the first black Boston University School of Law graduate and one of the first black degree recipients of a major US law school. Upon his death in 1929, the Supreme Court adjourns for the day, an honor reserved for the most respected members of the bar.
Photo courtesy of "Crisis." New York, N.Y. Crisis Publication Company. Volume 36, Page 416. [1929]
MED Class Milestone
The first class of the School of Medicine includes students from Massachusetts, Kansas, California, South India, and Asia Minor.
First School Named
The Boston Theological Seminary is renamed the School of Theology, the University's first school.
