2011 Commencement

The event will feature an address by Garry Marshall, the award-winning television and film director, writer, producer, and actor, and will include the awarding of four honorary degrees. The processional will begin at 2:15 p.m. with the program starting at 2:30 p.m. Also scheduled for Saturday is a Baccalaureate service at 10:30 a.m. with a sermon by Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, director of the Department of Multifaith Studies and Initiatives and associate professor of religious studies at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Wyncote, Pa.

The Commencement website has information for parents. Check back throughout the weekend for articles, videos, and photos covering the festivities. The Baccalaureate and Commencement ceremonies are scheduled to be held on the Quad. In case of rain, one or both ceremonies may be held in Allan P. Kirby Sports Center. If there is a change in the location for either ceremony based on the weather, that information will be available by calling (610) 330-5809.

President Daniel H. Weiss will award Marshall the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts. Also receiving honorary degrees will be John and Marianne Loose, the founders of Lauren’s First and Goal Foundation (each receiving a Doctor of Public Service) and Barry Sleckman ’83, a noted immunologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (Doctor of Science).

Read about the honorands

Caitlin M. Flood ’12 will deliver farewell remarks for the Class of 2012. She is the recipient of the George Wharton Pepper Prize, awarded to the senior who “most closely represents the Lafayette ideal.” Flood, of Bellrose Terrace, N.Y., will graduate with a bachelor of arts degree with majors in government & law and philosophy.

Read about Flood

The first students to receive their diplomas will be Megan Feeney ’11, Julie Martin ’11, Oleksiy Onishchenko ’11, Megan Schultz ’11, and Ming Yan ’11, who have achieved the highest cumulative grade-point average in the class. Feeney, of Webster, N.Y., will receive a bachelor of arts degree with a major in philosophy; Martin, of Riverton, N.J., will receive a bachelor of arts degree with a major in psychology; Onishchenko, of Chernihiv, Ukraine, will receive a bachelor of science in biology and a bachelor of arts degree with a major in chemistry; Schultz, of Dillsburg, Pa., will receive a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering; and Yan, of Yangzhou, China, will receive a bachelor of science in chemistry.

Thomas J. Bolt ’12 and Kurumi Fukushima ’12, chairs of the Class of 2012 Gift Committee, will present the class gift. Bolt, of Orchard Park, N.Y., will graduate with a bachelor of arts degree with majors in English and an individualized, interdisciplinary major in classics. Fukushima, of Glen Ridge, N.J., will receive a bachelor of arts degree with a major in international affairs.

Weiss will congratulate the recipients of annual Lafayette awards for distinguished teaching, scholarship, and service to the College and recognize Helen V. Dungan, cataloging librarian; Charles W. Holliday, professor of biology; J. Ronald Martin, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering; and Arnold A. Offner, Cornelia F. Hugel Professor of History, who are retiring and have been elected to emeritus status.

Read about the retiring faculty

Edward W. Ahart ’69, chair of the Board of Trustees, will recognize trustees Richard A. Grossman ’64, Jefferson W. Kirby ’84, and Walter Oechsle ’57.

Weiss will confer degrees upon the graduates and will deliver farewell remarks. Assisting in presenting diplomas will be Rose Marie L. Bukics, Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Professor of Economics and acting clerk of the faculty, and Hannah W. Stewart-Gambino, dean of the College.

Guy L. Hovis, John H. Markle Professor of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, will lead the academic procession as Bearer of the Mace. The mace is carried by the faculty member senior in rank of full professor. Jodie A. Frey, interim dean of students, will marshal the Class of 2012.

Wendy L. Hill, provost and dean of the faculty, will march at the head of the faculty. Thomas F. McGrail ’55, trustee emeritus, will lead the trustees and the platform party.

John P. Colatch, chaplain of the College and director of religious and spiritual life, will deliver the invocation and give the benediction. Jennifer W. Kelly, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities, will lead the singing of “America the Beautiful.” Members of the Lafayette Choir, led by Kelly, will lead the singing of “The Alma Mater.”

Jaclyn Avidon '12 interned at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab at the California Institute of Technology.

Jaclyn Avidon ’12 (New York, N.Y.) has interned with NASA, done EXCEL Scholars research on the surface temperature of  Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, and now has presented work at the premiere conference for planetary scientists.

Avidon, a physics major, presented her research at the 42^nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, last month.  Her presentation represented a portion of her honors thesis, and explored the properties of liquids found on the freezing moons of the outer solar system.  She presented the poster along with her thesis adviser and co-author, Andrew Dougherty, associate professor and head of physics.

The 42^nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference brings together over 2,000 international specialists in petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, geology, and astronomy to present the latest results of research in planetary science.  It has been a focal point for planetary science research since its beginning in 1970, when it was known as the Apollo 11 Lunar Science Conference.

“The conference was great,” says Avidon.  “I’ve never been asked such wonderfully technical questions before.  It was also neat to meet many of the people whose papers I’ve read over and over again—I was starstruck.”

Avidon has been working on the research involved in her poster since she began her EXCEL research with Dougherty in summer 2010.  Her project focuses on the “aqueous solutions” thought to be present on distant celestial bodies like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Titan.  She aimed to nail down the properties of these solutions, which required using advanced technology to create super cold, high-pressure conditions—simulating the climates of the icy moons.

Avidon’s favorite part of the research was getting involved in every aspect of the experimentation.  “Professor Dougherty let me tweak some of the computer programming that runs the experiment, adjust the physical apparatus, run the experiment, analyze the data, and organize and present the results,” she says.  “It takes about one week to get each data point, and you definitely have a much greater sense of accomplishment when you get to see the acquisition of that data point from start to finish.”

At the conference, Avidon received feedback on her research and heard a series of lectures about science education and public outreach.  She plans to pursue science education and public outreach after graduation, and was inspired to see so many others devoted to the field.

A science lover, Avidon completes her tenure at Lafayette having participated not only in academic activities like research and the Physics Club (as president), but in other activities like the Lafayette Dance Team and working as a tour guide for admissions.  She calls her experience “a nice variety.”

The project is scheduled to begin at the end of May with an anticipated completion date in November. Construction schedules may be adjusted due to variables such as weather, material availability, and regulatory approvals.

Students walk on the new pedestrian pathway along the Quad in front of Colton Chapel and Pardee Hall.

As envisioned in the Campus Master Plan of 2009, the project’s first phase, completed during the current academic year, included the transformation of Pardee Drive into a brick pathway and the creation of Anderson Courtyard, bordered by Acopian Engineering Center, Hugel Science Center, and Watson Hall.

In phase two, the streets and parking that surround the Quad will be removed, returning the Quad to an entirely pedestrian realm enhanced with a network of pathways constructed from local materials such as brick and Pennsylvania bluestone. Part of the Quad’s lawn will be regraded and sodded, and an irrigation system installed. Landscaping plans include the addition of nearly 100 trees, 1,600 shrubs, and more than 41,000 groundcover plantings.

“It is important to make the College more pedestrian-friendly for safety, health, beauty, efficiency, and sustainability,” says Mary Wilford-Hunt, director of facilities planning and construction. In addition to decreasing vehicular traffic, the project will decrease impervious surfaces and improve storm-water management systems.

The plans for phase two of the project were developed in consultation with members of the campus community, architects and engineers, various departments of the City of Easton, the Northampton County Conservation District, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Priorities that guided the planning included protecting the safety of the campus community and visitors, maintaining campus access, minimizing disruption and noise, and providing abundant signage.

The construction manager is Whiting-Turner. The firm’s experience at Lafayette includes the transformation of Pardee Drive and Anderson Courtyard and façade renewals on North Third Street.

The project will proceed in four steps: Step 1, May 21-June 13; Step 2, June 13-July 24; Step 3, July 24-Aug. 22, and Step 4, Aug. 22-Nov. 21. For each step, information on the location of wayfinding signs, construction fencing, tree-protection fencing, ADA parking and pathways, one-way traffic, and temporary parking can be found on the Construction Updates page of the Facilities Planning and Construction website (see Main Quad Improvements).

Parking and mobility around campus will be impacted during construction. Those who have had relocated parking spaces at the end of the project have been contacted.

Service access for emergency vehicles, trash removal, special events, deliveries, student move-ins, and maintenance will be accommodated as streets are transformed into pedestrian paths. Parking is being improved and expanded elsewhere on campus. This includes construction of a new surface lot on Pierce Street and expansion of the lot at the corner of Clinton Terrace and Cattell Street.

Josh Oshinksy '00 (right) receives a National Sports Emmy

Oshinksy, founder and executive producer of Ocean Sky Films, New York City, which he started in 2007, was senior producer of the MLB Productions series, which appeared on Showtime.

“For the series we spent most of a full season following every move made by the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants, both on and off the field, and turned that into an eight-episode docu-series,” says Oshinsky. “The award is in essence the sports equivalent of the Oscar for Best Picture. We also defeated stiff competition—HBO’s ‘Real Sports,’ ESPN’s ‘E:60,’ and NFL Films’ ‘A Football Life’ were among the other nominees.”

He also received a New York Emmy for another 2011 production, “Rockette Summer Intensive,” for MSG Varsity in the teen: program/feature segment category.

“It was my love of theater that drove me to television and film production,” says Oshinsky, an English graduate with a concentration in theater. “Many aspects of theatrical precision correlate to producing television programs, from understanding timing and layering audio to extracting the best performance possible from your subject.”

Oshinsky had the opportunity to test out his interest in television during the summer prior to his senior year when he interned for “Inside Edition,” and then during the year for WFMZ 69 in Allentown.

“But my education, both as a student and as a young adult, came directly from one professor—Michael O’Neil,” says Oshinsky. “He was my adviser, my friend, and my mentor. As an educator Michael was excellent, but as an adviser and director he went far beyond what we as students had any right to expect. And, if you ask any of those he was closest to during that era, I think you’ll find a fierce loyalty remains to this day. He certainly helped shape me into the man I have become, and I’m sure others would feel the same.”

Upon graduation, Oshinsky was convinced he was going to be an actor. “I was on my way to my first audition, a commercial for Dannon Yogurt, when I received a call from Major League Baseball radio offering an internship. I played varsity baseball at Lafayette and always wanted to stay involved in the game I love.”

But, Oshinsky says the passion to create quality entertainment as a career stemmed from “the theatrical success we had as a program while I was at Lafayette.” He shortly moved to MLB’s television branch and in the next six years rose to editor and associate producer. He then joined ESPN as lead editor for a new program called “Classic Now.” When the show was cancelled after three months, he became an independent producer.

Since then Oshinsky has won numerous awards for his work and while most of it is focused on baseball, he has branched out into cooking and reality shows. Some highlights include:

• 2011, open tease producer/editor/writer for international broadcasts of American League Championship Series and World Series, seen in over 160 countries
• 2010, producer/editor of 30 series documentary for ESPN 30, “Four Days in October,” which won a Peabody Award
• 2010, producer/editor/writer for Cooking Channel reality series “Hook, Line, and Dinner”
• 2009, produced a video for opening ceremony of FOX broadcast of the All-Star Game, which included a tribute by all living presidents, including Obama
• 2008, producer, New York Emmy Award-winning show, “Yankeeography: Yankee Stadium”
• 2007, lead editor, New York Emmy Award-winning series, “The 50 Greatest Moments in Madison Square Garden”