Chemistry, Biology Alumnae To Deliver Commencement Addresses

The Georgia Institute of Technology will hold its 255th Commencement ceremonies on May 4-5, 2018, at McCamish Pavilion on the Georgia Tech campus.

College of Sciences' alumnae will address the master's ceremony and the first of two bachelor's ceremonies.

The master’s ceremony is scheduled for 3-5:30 p.m. on May 4; doors open at 1:30 p.m.

Valerie Montgomery Rice, Georgia Tech alumna and president and dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine, will deliver the keynote address. Rice is the sixth president of the Morehouse School of Medicine and the first woman to lead the free-standing medical institution.

She is a renowned infertility specialist and researcher and has served as the dean of the School of Medicine and senior vice president of health affairs at Meharry Medical College, where she founded and directed the Center for Women’s Health Research. She earned a degree in chemistry from Georgia Tech and her medical degree from Harvard Medical School.

The two bachelor’s ceremonies are scheduled for May 5. The morning ceremony will run from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Georgia Tech alumna and former astronaut Jan Davis will deliver the keynote address. Davis earned a degree in applied biology from Georgia Tech before going on to complete a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering at Auburn University. She earned her master’s and her doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

During her career at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), she provided technical support for space shuttle payloads, served as the capsule communicator on seven missions and logged more than 673 hours in space on three space flights.

This ceremony includes the following academic disciplines:

• College of Computing: Computer Science
• College of Design: Industrial Design and Architecture
• College of Sciences: Psychology, Discrete Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Biology
• College of Engineering: Environmental, Civil, Biomedical, Materials Science and Engineering, Industrial, and Aerospace.

More than 2,120 undergraduates will receive bachelor’s degrees. The master’s ceremony will award 1,370 master’s degrees and the Ph.D. ceremony will award 180 doctorates.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This item was excerpted from a story by Lance Wallace, published on March 29, 2018, in the Georgia Tech News Center.