News Release
SF State’s 108th Commencement this weekend
Morris Dees, Willie Mays and Jeffrey Tambor will be honored, give speeches
SAN FRANCISCO, May 20, 2009 -- More than 20,000 people are expected to gather to celebrate the largest graduating class in San Francisco State University's history at this year's Commencement exercises on Saturday, May 23. Civil rights lawyer Morris Dees, baseball legend Willie Mays and actor Jeffrey Tambor will address the 8,515 graduating students and their guests.
The gates to Cox Stadium open at 10:30 a.m. on May 23. Graduates will line up by noon in the stadium for the processional at 12:15 p.m. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and end at 3:30 p.m.
Media wishing to attend should register in advance by contacting University Communications at (415) 338-1665.
Keynote address
Civil rights champion Morris Dees will deliver the keynote address. Dees
co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights law firm internationally
known for its legal victories against hate groups. As the Center's chief
trial counsel, Dees has won landmark cases such as a $7 million verdict
against the United Klans of America in 1987, which held Klansmen accountable
for the lynching of an African-American man and financially crippled America's
largest Ku Klux Klan organization. Dees was born and raised in Alabama
and is a graduate of the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama
Law School.
Honorary Degrees
During the ceremony, Morris Dees and Willie Mays will be awarded honorary
degrees from the California State University. Dees will receive a Doctor
of Laws; Mays will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters.
Willie
Mays came to San Francisco when the Giants moved from New York in 1958. Since
then, the "Say Hey Kid" has become synonymous with San Francisco
and opened the door to higher education for countless underprivileged youth
in the Bay Area. Regarded by many as the best all-around player in baseball
history, Mays won two Most Valuable Player awards and finished his career
with 660 home runs to rank fourth on the all-time career home run list. The
Willie Mays Say Hey Foundation was founded in 1972 to support the education
and enrichment of underprivileged youth. The foundation donated $12,000 to
the Guardian Scholars program at SF State.
Alumnus of the Year
San Francisco native and popular actor Jeffrey Tambor, (B.A. '65) has been
named 2009 Alumnus of the Year. A six-time Emmy nominee, Tambor's four-decade
acting career includes starring roles in the television hits "Arrested
Development" and "The Larry Sanders Show," and appearances
on other legendary sitcoms including "M*A*S*H," and "Taxi." Tambor
made his Broadway debut in 1975 opposite George C. Scott in "Sly Fox" and
most recently returned to Broadway in David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning
play "Glengarry Glen Ross."
Student Commencement Speaker
This year's student speaker is Jessica Aguilar, hood recipient for the College
of Ethnic Studies. Aguilar, a Presidential Scholar, carried a double major
in Raza studies and sociology, while devoting much of her time to her
community. For the past four years Aguilar volunteered as many as 40 hours
per week for Clínica Martín Baro, a free clinic in the Mission. She has
accepted a position at the Urban Promise Academy in East Oakland where
she has tutored Spanish-speaking students during the past year. The daughter
of emigrants from El Salvador, Aguilar also plans to pursue advanced degrees
in teaching and a career serving new immigrants and disenfranchised communities.
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