Commencement 2008
On Monday, May 19, the class of 2008, along with friends and family, celebrated the Exercises of Commencement in the 162nd year of Grinnell College.
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Douglas Caulkins, college marshal, ushers in the ceremony with the ringing of the bell--a tradition that evokes the history of the College. 
Honorary Marshal Trude Hoffacker '58 represents the 50th reunion class--a class which is supporting a loan forgiveness program to benefit the graduating class of 2008. 
Philosopher and gender politics expert Judith Butler advises the Class of 2008 during her commencement address. Butler received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters for her willingness and ability to do the "deep thinking" on subjects so crucial to our lives. 
Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu receives an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters for raising her genuinely humane voice in defense of the voiceless, and for showing us how crucial it is for us to raise ours. 
John Canady M.D. '80 receives an honorary Doctorate of Science for his unswerving dedication to the health and well-being of children. 
James Lowry '61 receives an honorary Doctorate of Laws. Visionary, entrepreneur, mentor, and advocate -- Lowry is a model Grinnellian and world citizen. 
Olajumoke Adenike Adekeye receives the coveted President's Medal, bestowed on the senior who exemplifies the ideal Grinnell student. 
Grinnell's shortest student graduates with a purrfect 4.0. 
Katrina Michelle Honigs is awarded the Andrew W. Archibald Prize for Highest Scholarship, given annually to the senior who has achieved the highest grade-point average during four years of study. 
As you leave, we ask you to remember this place, these times, this moment not as an artifact but as part of the foundation on which you stand and we hope it will enable you to rise to the challenges of a wonderful but struggling world, a world in which certainty exceeds wisdom, confusion exceeds insight, and inattention exceeds care and dedication. Russell K. Osgood, President of Grinnell College 
