University of Pittsburgh to Hold Its 2004 Commencement April 25

PITTSBURGH—University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg will welcome faculty, staff, trustees, graduating members of the Class of 2004, and invited guests, family, and friends attending Pitt's 2004 Commencement at 1 p.m. April 25 in the Petersen Events Center, 3719 Terrace St., Oakland.

Nobel Laureate and Pitt Alumnus Paul C. Lauterbur will deliver the commencement address, titled "The Road to Pittsburgh and Beyond." The Center for Advanced Study Professor of Chemistry and Distinguished Professor of Medical Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Lauterbur received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Sir Peter Mansfield of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom for discoveries leading to the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Chief University Marshal Nicholas G. Bircher will open the ceremony, leading a procession of faculty, staff, the Council of Deans, trustees, administrative officers, and graduating class members in full academic regalia; Bircher is a professor of anesthesiology in Pitt's School of Medicine and president of the University Senate. Music will be provided by the University Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Pitt Director of Bands Jack R. Anderson.

Chancellor Nordenberg will confer the Honorary Doctor of Science degree upon Lauterbur, who will then deliver the commencement address. Pitt Alumnus Ralph J. Cappy (CAS '65, LAW '68), chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and chair of Pitt's Board of Trustees, will present a Citation honoring Lauterbur.

After the awarding of diplomas by Nordenberg, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor James V. Maher, and the deans of the schools and colleges, Lisa M. George will speak on behalf of the graduating class. George—who was born in India, lived in Nigeria during childhood, and resided in Florida during her teens—will receive the Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and the Bachelor of Arts degrees in political science and Italian during the commencement ceremony. Her talk will be followed by an address from Keith E. Schaefer (CAS '71), president of the University of Pittsburgh Alumni Association, who will welcome the graduates as Pitt's newest alumni.

In all, Pitt is conferring approximately 6,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees this year to students on the Oakland campus and approximately 1,000 undergraduate degrees to students on the Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown, and Titusville regional campuses, which hold their own commencement ceremonies.

Lauterbur earned the Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland in 1951, and began research the same year at the Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh, receiving the Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Pitt in 1962.

Lauterbur and Mansfield's work in the 1970s led to MRI's modern use as a noninvasive and painless medical diagnostic tool. More than 60 million MRI examinations are performed worldwide each year. MRI is used to examine almost all organs of the body and is especially valuable for detailed imaging of the brain and spinal cord.

###

4/15/04/tmw