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JESSICA LANGE TO SPEAK AT MARLBORO COMMENCEMENT/NYE & POPE TO RECEIVE HONORARY DEGREES

MARLBORO, VT – Marlboro's 2003 commencement will feature an Academy Award winning actress and one of the world's leading foreign policy experts, in addition to graduating seniors whose fields of study have focused on topics from radio astronomy to women's reproductive health in sub-Sahara Africa. It will be held on Sunday, May 18 at 10:30 at the Person's Auditorium on Marlboro's undergraduate campus.

At this 56th commencement ceremony, the following degrees will be conferred: 65 students will receive bachelor of arts degrees, five students will receive bachelor of science degrees, and five students will receive bachelor of arts in international studies degrees. There are 46 women and 29 men in this year's graduating class.

This year’s commencement speaker will be award-winning actress Jessica Lange, who hails from Minnesota and is the mother of graduating Marlboro College senior Shura Baryshnikov, also the daughter of dancer/choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Also at this year’s commencement, Joseph S. Nye, Jr. will receive an honorary degree.

Nye is Dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Nye received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1958. He did postgraduate work at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship and earned a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. He joined the Harvard Faculty in 1964, and
taught one of the largest core curriculum courses in the college. From 1977 to 1979, Nye served as Deputy to the Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology and chaired the National Security Council Group on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In recognition of his service, he received the highest Department of State commendation, the Distinguished Honor Award.

Loren Pope will also receive an honorary degree at this year’s commencement ceremonies. Pope, a Washington newspaperman who led the fight for better schools in Loudon County, Virginia, first began writing about education in a column for Gannett Newspapers in 1952. His column led to his position as education editor of The New York Times during the height of the college-going chaos of the late '50s started by the GI bill.

Pope wrote the well-known guide, "Colleges That Change Lives". He also contributes to professional journals and speaks at meetings of the National Association of College Admissions Counselors. He has also appeared on radio and television. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Founded in 1946, Marlboro College offers its 300 undergraduate students an 8:1 student-faculty ratio, a voice in governing the community, and a strong foundation in the liberal arts. The cornerstone of Marlboro's academic program is the Plan of Concentration, an in-depth, self-designed exploration of a field or fields of each student's choosing. The Plan culminates in a major independent project involving research, one-to-one study with faculty in tutorials and a three-hour oral examination with Marlboro faculty and an outside examiner who is an expert in the student's field.