Marlboro College holds 64th Commencement on May 15

MARLBORO — Marlboro College has announced that its 64th Commencement will take place on Sunday, May 15, at 10:30 a.m., in Persons Auditorium.

During the ceremony, the college will confer 69 Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Arts in International Studies degrees within its 33 areas of liberal arts study.

Instead of prescribed majors and minors, all Marlboro students engage in an interdisciplinary, self-designed course of study that culminates in a Plan of Concentration. Each student's plan is evaluated by his or her faculty advisors and an outside evaluator who is an expert in the particular field.

The 2011 commencement speaker will be Claudine K. Brown, the assistant secretary for education and access for the Smithsonian Institution.

Brown oversees two of the Smithsonian's educational organizations - the National Science Resources Center and the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies - and coordinates 32 education-based offices in museums and science centers. She also oversees the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service, the Smithsonian Affiliates, and the Smithsonian Associates.

Brown first joined the Smithsonian in 1990 to serve as director of the National African-American Museum Project, and then worked for 16 years as the director of the arts and culture program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Prior to that, she served in several positions of education and outreach at The Brooklyn Museum in New York City.

The college will also bestow an honorary degree to award-winning filmmaker, television producer, and radio broadcaster John Scagliotti.

In 1991, Scagliotti created ''In the Life,'' which was the first gay and lesbian national television series on PBS. Now in its 20th season, the program is carried by more than 100 PBS stations, and is seen in the top 25 national markets.

His 1985 documentary film, ''Before Stonewall: A History of the Making of the Gay and Lesbian Community in America,'' won two Emmy Awards and was the first documentary concerning gay and lesbian issues ever to receive major funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Scagliotti currently lives in Guilford.

Information about seating, parking, and more can be found at www.marlboro.edu. For special needs and accessibility information, call 802-251-7644.

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