tute—who picked up a GSAS Centennial Medal (see page 66), and her husband, Commencement Confetti Thomas R. Jevon ’75. Their daughter, Fiona Jevon ’13, graduated from the Col- Stephanie Wilson lege, as had sister Ciara Jevon ’11. Presi- dent emeritus Neil L. Rudenstine and Angelica Rudenstine were part of the extended family attending nephew Jason Wagner, M.B.A. ’13, newly “ready to lead people and organizations in enterprises that will serve society.” im harrison im

j Early Birds for a Day The South, Risen. At the Harvard At the Quincy House champagne break- Alumni Association’s annual meeting fast on Commencement day, beginning on Commencement afternoon, at 6:30 a.m., master Lee Gehrke observed president Carl F. Muller ’73, J.D.- M.B.A. ’76, noted a hat-trick unprec- to the seniors as they ate, “I am here for

im harrison im Carl F. Muller edented for Harvard: President Drew

j breakfast nearly every morning and I Faust is from Virginia, speaker Oprah don’t think I have ever seen 90 percent of Winfrey from Mississippi, and he himself from South Carolina. In heaven above, he said, “Our Puritan fathers are scratching their heads and wondering what is going you here at this hour.” Offering granola on.” As a proper Southern gentleman, he felt obliged, he said, to refer to the honored bars and bottled water to go, co-master guest as “Miss Winfrey.” Farther afield, he noted that the chief marshal of the Deborah Gehrke warned of the rigors twenty-fifth reunion class, astronaut Stephanie Wilson ’88, might open a Harvard ahead: “You won’t eat until 1:00” (regular Club on the moon. (At lunch, Wilson gave Winfrey a magazine article about the honorand’s South African girls’ academy that had flown on Discovery with her in 2010, breakfast time, perhaps, for many). for 6.2 million miles: straightened out, enough for several trips to lunar club events.) CommencementX Weather Watch union class playfully recalled the great Ever more events are streamed online. Everybody talked about the weather, Boston blizzard that closed Harvard (and Gluttons for graduation oratory with but….During the Senior Chapel Service everything else) during their senior year. enough screens could have taken in si- on Thursday morning, the Reverend South Carolinian Carl Muller came pre- multaneous live versions of the College’s Jonathan L. Walton—concluding his pared, in a light jacket, for his afternoon and several professional schools’ class first year as Pusey minister in the Memo- speaking duties as president of the HAA. days. Priming the pump, the Harvard rial Church and Plummer professor of Alumni Association’s associate direc- Christian morals, but already wise to the Deans, Entering and Exiting tor, alumni digital engagement, e-mailed ways of fund- “This is more nerve-wracking for me than graduates to encourage submissions raising—sug- presenting my own thesis defense,” con- of “gradvice” to 2013 degree recipients gested an air fessed Graduate School of Arts and Scienc- (complementing the wisdom they would conditioner as es (GSAS) dean Xiao-Li Meng, presenting hear from speakers, live or streamed, an apt naming the Ph.D. candidates for the first time—in presumably) by tweeting to @Harvar- opportunity. front of a world media figure, no less. “If dAlumni #gradvice to #Harvard13, post- He urged the I mispronounce anything, all your theses ing #gradvice on Facebook to the HAA class of 2013 to will be wasted and you will not get your group, and via other channels. Among c j use their privilege and power to “shift degrees.” (He didn’t.) Harvard’s long­ the pearls shared: “Follow your dreams” the cultural climate. We need you to be est-serving dean, the Extension School’s and, pertinently, “Be skeptical of crowd- thermostats, not thermometers.” The Bos- Michael Shinagel, who is retiring, intro- sourced advice.” ton Globe’s live blog showed Oprah Win- duced himself as “the lame-duck dean” for / harvard frey (gowned, like all the honorands, but extension studies. Crimson Cred more experienced with hot studio lights) Beyond her crimson mopping her brow at 10:16 a.m. President Guests and Grads dress, Oprah Winfrey Drew Faust made the weather a theme Among those celebrating established her Harvard of her afternoon address—a segue to re- were Louise Richardson, smarts early in her talk. search on climate change and energy— Ph.D. ’89—principal and Referring to the former and observed that Harvard, which had vice-chancellor of the Radcliffe, now College, not closed for meteorological reasons University of St Andrews, Houses considered less since 1978, did so twice this year. While former executive dean desirable than those clos- Cambridge melted, the thirty-fifth re- of the Radcliffe Insti- er to the Charles River, Michael stu rosner Shinagel

www.harvardmagazine.com/commencement Harvard Magazine 45 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 Grace Scheibner

she said she hoped to offer inspiration to An Orthopedist in the House? “anybody who has ever felt inferior or felt Honorands Thomas M. Menino, mayor of Boston (recovering from a fractured leg disadvantaged, felt screwed by life—this and facing surgery the next day), and is a speech for the Quad.” Maestro José Antonio Abreu traveled to the Commencement stage by wheelchair, Degrees Data and ascended around the back, avoiding the steps. Rev. Jonathan Walton navigated Harvard conferred a bumper crop of 7,321 with a crutch (torn Achilles tendon). They degrees and 44 certificates: 1,651 from the all had a sympathetic helper in the College, 950 from the Graduate School of indefatigable Grace Scheibner, Com- Arts and Sciences, 909 from the Business mencement director (recovering from a broken kneecap), who made some use School, 744 from the Education School, of a golf cart. 740 from the Law School, 650 from the Extension School, 564 from the Ken- joked, the selection committee discussed nedy School…and on down to 79 from the whether winning a Nobel was a positive School of Engineering and Applied Sci- factor or a negative one. ences and 73 from the School of Dental im harrison im Medicine—reversing their order of finish Decanal Directive j in 2012. At the end of the Graduate School of to say he liked attending fifth reunions Education’s convocation on Wednesday, and fiftieth reunions, but skipped the Top Theses Dean Kathleen McCartney prepped her others, because “Up to the fifth, they’re Radcliffe awarded the Captain Jonathan charges for Thursday’s big event. The all just friends; after the fiftieth, nobody Fay Prize for the most original theses to provost would call her forward, she said, cares anymore; in between, everyone is three College seniors. Mathematics con- and she would introduce the degree can- on the make.” Proving at least part of centrator Ashok Cutkosky wrote about didates: “ ‘I have the honor of presenting Freund’s point: Éva Borsody Das ’63 said DNA topology. Benjamin Naddaff-Ha- to you these women and men who will her reunion was way more fun and not frey, a history and literature concentra- be leaders in education policy, practice, nearly so much work as climbing Mount tor, explored the “War of the Worlds” and research.’ And then your job is to be Kilimanjaro (accomplished prior to her radio broadcast. History concentrator very, very loud!” (“They were wonderful!” forty-fifth). “The best thing is, everyone Laura Savarese was recognized for re- she reported after the ceremony.) is getting more and more relaxed and search on slavery in antebellum St. Louis. fun-loving. Last night, people were doing Presidential First the twist and rock-’n’-roll like a bunch of Nobelists Need Not Apply? Harvard’s 2013 ROTC cohort received giddy teenagers—without the angst!” After the Centennial Medalists lun- copies of The Yellow Birds, a novel by Iraq cheon, GSAS dean Xiao-Li Meng, Jones veteran Kevin Powers, from President Timely Academic Publishing professor of statistics, noted that there Drew Faust at their commissioning cer- Following a year during which the Col- is no Nobel Prize for mathematics or emony. When the students presented lege has been roiled by the investigation for statistics. With so many candidates their gift to her, she exclaimed, “I’ve nev- of academic misconduct (see page 52), to choose among for GSAS’s medal, he er been given an artillery shell before!” Press will release stu rosner The engraved brass casing included the Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dis- statement, “continuing the proud tradi- honesty, by James M. Lang, of Assumption tion of harvard in our nation’s service.” College, late this summer. Nearly three- quarters of college students cheat, the Reunion Reflections jacket blurb observes—“because their John Daley ’61, LL.B. ’64, of the Happy learning environments give them ample Committee, on duty in front of Sever incentives to try.” More effective course Hall, recalled that Paul Freund, the late design and classroom practice can reduce Loeb University Professor emeritus, used cheating and improve learning, Lang finds.

91.5, Degreed. Accompanied by several family members, and reversing the normal educational sequence, Thomas C. Hall, M.D. ’49, rose from his wheelchair and walked across the courtyard to receive his bachelor’s degree—73 years after enrolling in the College class of 1944 (see page 68). His undergraduate studies were interrupted by World War II, when he served a 13-month prison sentence for refusing to register for military service. Paroled, he took more courses, then entered medical school. He completed his biochemistry concentration requirements in 1976, but was four courses shy of a degree. He finished that work by computer and through visits to registrar Michael Burke and Brett Flehinger, lecturer on history. “I don’t like to leave things dangling,” said Hall, giving new meaning to lifelong learning.

Thomas C. Hall ’44 (’13) www.harvardmagazine.com/commencement Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746