FAYETTEVILLE, Ark — All-University Commencement will be held at 8:45 a.m., May 8, 2004, at Bud Walton Arena. The 2004 honorary degree recipient will be Dr. William R. Ferris, senior associate for the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor of History, and an adjunct professor of folklore.

As an author, folklorist, filmmaker, and former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Dr. Ferris has compiled a distinguished record of achievement and leadership during a career spanning more than three decades.

Dr. Ferris' scholarship covers the fields of folklore, American literature, music, and photography. Among his books are "Ray Lum's Tales of Horses, Mules, and Men," "Local Color," "Images of the South: Visits with Eudora Welty and Walker Evans," and "Blues from the Delta."

As a documentary filmmaker, his works include "Mississippi Blues," which was featured at the Cannes Film Festival. Among his sound recordings are "Highway 61 Blues: James 'Son' Thomas," "Bothered All the Time," "Genesis: The Beginnings of Rock," and "Blues from the Delta." He served as a consultant to the 1985 Academy Award-winning movie "The Color Purple" and to "Crossroads," a film about blues music.

For almost a decade, Dr. Ferris hosted "Highway 61," a weekly blues music program that airs on Mississippi Public Radio. He has made more than 225 presentations to audiences in 14 countries and was named one of the top 10 teachers in the nation by Rolling Stone magazine in 1991.

Dr. Ferris served for 18 years as founding director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. Under his leadership, the university developed the most comprehensive Southern studies curriculum in the nation, and the center, with an interdisciplinary approach incorporating popular, folk, historical, and literary subjects, attained national recognition as a model for regional studies centers. In 1993, the center was named a nongovernmental organization affiliated with the United Nations.

A professor of anthropology and a prolific author, Dr. Ferris spearheaded the creation of the best-selling Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, published in 1989. The Pulitzer Prize-nominated book contains entries on every aspect of Southern culture and is widely recognized as a major reference work linking popular, folk, and academic cultures. In Russia, Eastern Europe, and Australia, the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture has been used as a tool for understanding cultural and social diversity.

Dr. Ferris' honors include the presidentially bestowed Charles Frankel Prize in the Humanities, the American Library Association's Dartmouth Medal, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award, and France's Chevalier and Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters. He also has been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Dr. Ferris taught at the University of Mississippi (1979-1997), Yale University (1972-79), and at Jackson State University in Mississippi (1970-72). He has M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in folklore from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. in English literature from Northwestern University, and a B.A. from Davidson College. He received a Doctor of Fine Arts from Rhodes College in 1997 and served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (1997-2001).

In addition to the all-university commencement, the individual colleges and schools will hold separate commencement exercises. Individual college commencement times, locations, and speakers are listed below:

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Friday, May 7, 2004

Eleanor Mann School of Nursing:

6:00 p.m., Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall

Glenda Lawson — Lawson is associate professor of nursing in the UA Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, where she teaches geriatrics and research. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and her Ph.D. from Texas Women’s University. She is the first certified vascular nurse in the state of Arkansas, and her research focuses on vascular disease.

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Saturday, May 8, 2004

Sam M. Walton College of Business:

12:30 p.m., Barnhill Arena

J. Thomas May — May is chairman and CEO of Simmons First National Corporation. A native of El Dorado, Ark., he received a B.S.B.A. in 1971 and an M.B.A. in 1972 from the Sam M. Walton College of Business. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967-1970. He graduated from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking in 1979.

May served on the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees for 10 years, serving as chairman for 2002 and 2003. He is a member of the Walton College Dean’s Executive Advisory Board and has received numerous awards and honors for his volunteerism in Pine Bluff and Jefferson County.

Marlena Sweeney — Outstanding Graduating Senior — Marlena has been active with Students for Free Enterprise (S.I.F.E.), holding various officer positions. She served as vice president of Beta Gamma Sigma and was a semi-finalist at the International Public Debate Association National Tournament; state champion in Impromptu and After Dinner Speaking and semi-finalist in Debate; and public speaking champion in the Fulbright College Department of Communications Public Speaking Tournament.

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Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences:

1 p.m., Bud Walton Arena

Dr. William R. Ferris — See above biography.

Leremy Colf — A graduating UA senior, Colf is completing an honors degree in biochemistry. He is member of the USA Today 2004 All-USA College Academic Third Team. He has been awarded a full scholarship to the Stanford University Bio-Sciences Ph.D. Program and was a Barbara Wertheim Campbell Award Recipient in 2004.

Colf also has earned distinction as the first-ranked Senior Scholar at the university and served as a speaker during the 2004 Gifted and Talented Scholars Convocation

Shireen Yvette Husain — Husain, a Sturgis Fellow and Rhodes and Truman finalist, is graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in French and European Studies, and a bachelor of science in physics. She recently received one of the two Senior Honor Citations from the Arkansas Alumni Association.

She is a volunteer at the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter and a member of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Northwest Arkansas. As part of her involvement with the Office for Student Involvement and Leadership, Husain has coordinated the UA Students’ Day of Caring, instituted the Planning for College Success program and is the founding vice president of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

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School of Architecture:

1 p.m., Arkansas Union Ballroom

John Watkins — Watkins joined the UA law faculty in 1983 and presently is the William H. Enfield Professor of Law. He teaches primarily in the area of civil litigation and is the author of three books and more than 40 journal articles.

For almost 19 years, Watkins served as Reporter — i.e., principal draftsman — for the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Civil Practice, which reviews and proposes changes in the procedural rules that govern civil litigation in the Arkansas courts. He also played an active role in implementation of a constitutional amendment that restructured and modernized the state's court system.

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Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences:

1 p.m., Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center

Jennifer Drake — Drake is a human development and family sciences major in Bumpers College with a minor in Spanish. In 2002, she spent six months studying Spanish and working in an orphanage in San José, Costa Rica.

She spent spring breaks in 2001 and 2002 helping to build a youth center in San Vicente, Mexico. She was a 2003 summer intern in the Washington County Juvenile Court, where her duties included reviewing cases for possible diversion from the court to a social services provider.

Her many awards and honors include the Senior Scholar award from Bumpers College as one of two graduating seniors with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

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College of Engineering:

3:30 p.m., Barnhill Arena

John A. Brighton — Brighton is the assistant director for engineering of the National Science Foundation. Appointed in 2003, he had most recently served as provost of National-Louis University in Evanston, Ill.

During his career at Pennsylvania State University, Brighton served as chair of the Teaching and Learning Consortium from 1999 through 2002; executive vice president and provost from 1991 through 1999; and dean of engineering from 1988 through 1991. He also assisted in the foundation of the University Council on Continuous Quality Improvement in 1991 and the University CQI Center in 1992.

Brighton is a Fellow of both the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society for Engineering Education. He has served on the advisory committee for the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Directorate. In addition, he served as chairman of the Council of Deans of the American Society for Engineering Education.

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College of Education and Health Professions:

4 p.m., Bud Walton Arena

Margaret Jane "Janie" Darr, Ed.D. — Dr. Darr is the superintendent of the Rogers school system. Darr received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas and went on to earn a master’s degree in guidance and counseling and a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Arkansas. She has maintained strong ties with the university and has been supportive of programs in the College of Education and Health Professions. Darr is active with the Research and Advocacy Network coordinated by the college, and her school system partners with the college to mentor master-of-arts in teaching interns.

She is active within the community, including serving on the Chamber of Commerce board of directors and education committee, the United Way, and the Ozark Guidance Center board of directors.

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Saturday, May 15, 2004

Robert A. Leflar School of Law:

1:30 p.m., Walton Arts Center

The Honorable Dale Bumpers — First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974, Bumpers served four terms as a democratic senator from Arkansas. He served as ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, where he was chairman and ranking member on the Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies Subcommittee, and chairman and ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee.

Before joining the U.S. Senate, Bumpers served two terms as governor of Arkansas. He reorganized state government and trimmed state agencies from 69 to 13; doubled the number of state parks; started the State Kindergarten Program; and launched an initiative that doubled the number of doctors trained at Arkansas' only medical school.

After his retirement from the Senate, Bumpers served as director of the Center for Defense Information. He is now in private practice in the Washington D.C. firm Arent Fox. His legal and public policy practice includes providing strategic counsel and advice to corporate, trade association, non-profit and organizational clients on a broad range of international and government relations issues.