http://thelcn.com/2013/05/10/commencements-begin-saturday-at-suny-geneseo/
GRADUATION
Commencements begin Saturday at SUNY Geneseo
May 10, 2013 by Ben Beagle
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Two undergraduate ceremonies are scheduled May 18 in Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena for an estimated 1,200 students.
SUNY Geneseo Distinguished Teaching Professor of English Ronald B. Herzman will deliver the keynote address at both ceremonies, scheduled for 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The college began doing two undergraduate ceremonies several years ago when the ceremony was moved indoors to the ice arena. The arena can’t accommodate all of the graduates and guests at once, so about half of the graduates walk in the morning and half in the afternoon.
Plans are to move to a single outdoor ceremony when the college’s new stadium is completed.
Herzman, who will address “Creative Recycling,” is among the longest-serving current Geneseo faculty members with 44 years of service. At the morning ceremony, Herzman also will be the mace bearer as Grand Marshal. Distinguished Service Professor of Geological Sciences Richard A. Young will be Grand Marshal for the afternoon ceremony.
“Ron has served as Grand Marshal in previous years, but it is a distinct pleasure to welcome him as our commencement speaker this year,” SUNY Geneseo President Christopher C. Dahl said in a news release.“Ron represents the heart of our teaching and learning enterprise. He is an eminent medievalist, honored nationally for his teaching by the medieval Academy of America, and he also inspires other teachers. At the same time he is able to communicate the joys of his field to general audiences, through popular presentations for The Great Courses series and lectures throughout the country.”
Herzman has served in leadership positions on numerous major committees on campus and was co-director of the college’s Honors Program from 2005-13, succeeding the late Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy Bill Edgar, for whom the program is now named.
“Ron has made a tremendous mark on the life of our academic community for decades,” Dahl said. “This will be my last commencement as president and I am looking forward to hearing his remarks.”
Herzman, a native of Brooklyn, earned his bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College and his master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Delaware. His undergraduate alma mater conferred an honorary doctorate of humane letters upon him in 1991.
Herzman came to Geneseo in 1969 as an assistant professor of English, was promoted to associate professor in 1978 and full professor in 1983. In 1976, he received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and was named Distinguished Teaching Professor of English in 1989.
Herzman specializes in medieval literature, humanities and the Bible as literature but has a particular passion for Dante, on whom he has published and presented extensively. In 2003, he and Distinguished Teaching Professor of History Bill Cook jointly received the first-ever CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies from the Medieval Academy of America. The award recognized their long-time collaborative accomplishments as team teachers and partners in research in their field of medieval studies.
Herzman has been involved many years with the National Endowment for the Humanities and was on leave from Geneseo from 1982 to 1985 at the NEH in Washington, D.C., where he created the Seminar for School Teachers Program, a series of summer seminars to help school teachers become better teachers. Herzman was the program’s first program officer, and the NEH continues to ask him to teach the seminars in various parts of the world.
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Herzman, Ronald B. [MC????]
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Dear John,
I believe that Ronald is a member of the Class of 1965.
Mike
McEneney, Mike (MC1953)
[JR: Thanks, Mike. Much appreciated.]
Herzman, Ronald B. [MC1965]
# – # – # – # – # 2013-May-11 @ 15:23
