601 LZ N0:;_1';1S \VAKE FOREST voo1o·,n ... ~_ UNIVERSITY Doonesbury DooneJbury cartooniii Garry Trudeau ga<'e thii year'J Commencement Ipeech. See the Ilory on page I. ~agazine June/1986 ----------------~------------ Garry Trudeau urges graduates to ask ttnperttnent• • questtons• Ar Commencemenr cerem omes on May 19, Garry Trudeau, crearor of rhe Doonesbury comoc srnp, urged rhe 1,030 graduating seniors ro ask impertinem as well as pemnenr quesrions. H e r old graduares rhar rhe perrinenr quesflons­ "'hich ofren ha\"e impernnenr answers-are useful fo r separarmg rhe whear from rhe chaff. Bur, "rhe •mpertinem quesrion is rhe glory of human inquiry ' and rhar irs nlue is self-e"idenr-ir IS rhe "core of our polirical and culrural characrer as a people." Trudeau cauflono:d his audience rhar asking imperrinem quesrions has inherem risks, and reminded rhem of rhe fare of rhe rwo engmeers who proresred rhe launch of rhe shurrle Challenger Bur. Trudeau said. asking rhe imperrinenr quesrion makes people self- aware rarher rhan self-absorbed, and ir is only by askmg rhe impertinenr quesrion rhar anyone can choose berween omperfect op rions He told rhe graduares rhar if rhey bad rhe courage ro ask rhe lal••""'""''e-o•not spe.Lter Garry Trr~de= (righll satd that, b~ed on the amo11nt of tome n takes to read one fo•r-pmel imperrinem questions, rhey would be able ro 'make •"" thef..a that Ron.Jd Reag•n rea:U ec ery comiC nnp"' the IT'atbtngton Pos~ Reagan has spent ele<oen deasions, ra ke risks, and beoome good cirirens on ho11rs, .,.J fon) mm11tes of his presttienq reading the comics Tn.dea~~ satd that that f.us, pillt the spire of yourselves." Trudeau ended his speech saying, of "*'lear meltdou·n, are the tu·o moll fnghteno•g tho•ghts of o•r ttme. "From those of us floundering abour in rhe real world ro rbose of you abour ro enrer ir, I say welcome. We need you." University Presidem Thomas K Hearn Jr told rbe graduares rbat, rhanlcs ro rhe centrality of rhe liberal ans and sciences ar Wake Forest, rhey have learned rbe rudiments of common grammar and vocabulary of a language rhar will take rhem rhrough life. He saod rhar rhe masrery of fundamemal skills in basic disciplines is importanr and aslced the graduares ro rhank rhe faculry who "have raugbr you rbeir special languages." Consin•ed on page 1 W'ake ForeJI Unit·erstt)· MagJZine WAKE FOREST Garry Trudeau conti"'"" UNIVERSITY Before the bachelor's degrees were awarded, President for Health Affairs and Executive Dean of Magazine President Hearn awarded five honorary degrees. the Bowman Gray School of Medicine Richard Historian John Hope Franklin received the Docror of Janeway presented a citation to Professor of Medicin< Terry Hydell, Editor Humane Letters; Robert T. Handy, scholar, writer, Ross L. Mdean. Provost Edwin G. Wilson ('43) and Henry Sloan Coffin Professor of Church History presented a citation to Professor of Romance Volume 32, Number 6 at Union Theological Seminary, received the Doctor Lanaguages Anne S. Tillett. Associate Professor of of Divinity; scientist Ruth Patrick and Robert G. Pediatrics Alanson Hinman and Professor of Surgery WAKE FOREST Univertily MiJg.u;ine is published Petersdorf, vice chancellor for Health Sciences and Frank R. Johnston received their citations in abrenlia six times a year in August, October, January, dean of the School of Medicine ar the University of On Sunday, May 18, Robert T. Handy preached the February, April, and June by Wake Forest California at San Diego, received the Doctor of baccalaureate sermon in Wait Chapel. He told his University. It is mailed free to alumni, parents, and benefactors of Wake Forest Univer:siry-the only Science; and Garry Trudeau received the Donor of audience that they should "realize the power of price is a correct address. Send editorial Letters. words, savor them, use them thoughtfully and correspondence, changes of address, and alumni As is traditional at Commencement, retiring faculty carefully, redeem them" rather than using them "as news to 7227 Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, members on both the Reynolda and Hawthorne substitutes for aetion, as evasions of duty, as NC 27109. Second class postage paid at Winston­ Campuses received citations recognizing their basic changes." Salem, NC. Additional entry at Greensboro, NC. surrogates for making USPS 664-520. ISSN 0279-3946. POSTMASTER: rontributions and service to the University. Vice Send address changes to The Wake Forut Univertity Mag,u;i,., 7227 Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, NC 27109. Typography by rype/desigo Printed by Triad Press Among those providing information for articles in this issue were lume/J Brantley ('45), Director of Communications }amer R. Bullocle ('85 ), Assistant Director of Alumni Activities Mary Nell Burlee, Development Office Assistant Gareth Clement ('84 ), • Staff Writer, Office of Development and U Diversity Relations Sandra C. Connor, Director of Foundarion Relations and Faculty Research Development }uliur H. Corpening ('49), Assistant Vice President for Development Lyne Gamble, Director of Lawyer Alumni Activities Bill Joyner ('66), Vice President for University Relations Kay Doenger Lord ('64), Alumni Officer Bob Millr ('7 1, MBA '80), Assistant Vice President and Director of Alumni Acrivities jacqueline L Peeerron, Administrative Assistant, Alumni Activities Office Jan e Robe rron ('81) , Assistant Director of Communications Claudia Stitt, Director of Records and Support Services Bobby Thompron ('82) Director of the College Fund leanne P. Whitman (79) Retiring Profeuor of Romance l...anguger Anne S. Tillett receiver a citation from Pre11dent Hearn. Assistant to the Provost page IWO Walee Forert Univenity Magazine Garret B. Trudeau generations and rhat rhe Dooneibury characters change even as we change; Remembenng, gratefuUy, rhar Doolleibury Appreciating, perhaps above aU, rhe began on a college campus wirh B.D. waiting refreshment and the humor rhar come every for his compurer-selecred roommate; day from chose four little picture panels on an Remembering, also, the ocher characters, now otherwise somber op-ed page- our familiar friends, who followed: Mike We thank Garry Trudeau for coming tO rhis Doonesbury, Mark Slackmeyer, Duke and Wake Forest Commencement, though knowing Honey and Zonker, Joanie and J.J and Boopsie, he may find here new objects of satire for his Dick and Lacey Davenport; imagination; Knowing that in his com1c srnp are recorded, We reluctantly forgive him for the rwenry­ for our learnmg and our laughter, the years of one months from January, 1983 through Nixon and Ford and Carter and Reagan and of September, 1984 rhar wiU be forever missing the1r contemporanes who amused or angered or from our memories; scared us; And we present him for the degree Docror of Recognizing rhar rhe chronicles of Lerrers. Doone~bury are rhe srory of our own passing Art department chatrwoman Margaret Supplee Smtth hood! Garret B. Trudeau. John Hope Franklin Hisrory is a record of rhe pasr for rhe present and for rhe furure. In read1ng h1Scory we come co hear and rhen co understand how we have arrived ar coday; and if rhe rexr is accurate and wise, we extend our vision into tomorrow. John Hope Frankltn is, for all rime, a historian. He has caught history ar Sr Augustine's College, at North Carolma Central in Durham, at Howard Universiry, at Brooklyn College, ar rhe U niversiry of Chicago, and, more recently, at Duke Umversiry. He has written history in many separate volumes, including From Sl.u·ery to Freedom, regarded as the most brilliantly authentic account of rhe passage of black Americans. And he has made history in Montgomery, Alabama, and in Washmgcon, DC, wirh public srarements for racial justice. Born in Oklahoma, educated ar the grear institutions of Fisk and Harvard, John Hope Franklin has devored his life ro impeccable scholarship, to excellence m reaching, and co courageous and intelligent national life. In all these roles he has walked wirh grace and marched with glory. In certain hisroric places and at certain historic rimes, ir was enough to say, John Hope Franklin has been here. When hisrory needed prophetic words, John Hope Franklin spoke them; when histor)' needed an interpreter, he caught; and when history needed an exemplary leader, he was there. He IS presented for rhe degree Doctor of ]oh11 Hope Franklm (/eft) and }osepb BratiCh, chief ;umce of the North Carolma Supreme Court and chatNnan of the Humane Letters Umt erllf) Board of Trusteer page three )tme/ 1986 \f/.,ke Foreit Umreritfy l\fagazi11 e - Ruth Patrick If the earth is ro be understood and to be lived on in security and without fear, if it is to endure as a clean and habitable planet, we will require the work and the public voice of scientists like Ruth Patrick. Throughout her distinguished career she has srudied the land and the water, aquatic communities, and the ways in which ecosystems develop and change. A native of Kansas, Professor Patrick was educated in the South, first at Coker College and then at the U niversicy of Virginia, where she received the PhD degree and where she was a fellow srudent with Wake Forest biologists Elton Cocke and Walter Flory. At the Academy of Narural Sciences in Philadelphia she was founder and chairman of the Department of Limnology and chairman of the Board of Trustees. She has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and has served on scientific panels and commissions for Pennsylvania's governors and for Presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Ronald Reagan. Ruth Patrick has won many honors, including the prestigious international John and Alice Tyler Ecology Award. She has also been President of the American Society of Naturalists and has traveled and spoken widely about ways in which rogether we can achieve a Babcock Profeuor Ementus of Biology WalterS.