LehighWeek Volume 11, Issue 16

              REMINDER:
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Celebration, January 18-19
Benefactor, trustee passes away
Journalism student interns on-line
Essence publisher to speak
South Mountaineer
Grapplers bring down
No. 4 Michigan
LehighWeek
with South Mountaineer
Inside
News
People
Events
Calendar
1,2
3,5,6
Volume 11, Issue 16
Lehigh University Campus Weekly
January 14,1998
Mercy says philanthropy,
volunteerism should not be forgotten
Eugene Mercy, Jr. '59
asked the 440 graduates at
the commencement
ceremonies on Jan. 11 to
keep in mind the benefits
of philanthropic giving.
Mercy, vice chair of the
Lehigh Board of Trustees
and an investment banker
and principal with Granite
Capital International
Group of New York City,
reminded the graduates
that "philanthropic giving,
whether it is for one's alma
mater, a hospital, church
or synagogue, is a critically important American
invention and institution."
He stressed the importance of giving to the
community, citing such
national icons as John
Rockefeller, Henry Ford,
Andrew Carnegie and Ted
Turner as great philanthropists.
Mercy added that
undergraduate and
graduate students, who
tend to choose only one
path to follow, should look
into combining "the
enriching possibilities of
the third sector, the
nonprofit sector, with the
enlightened contributions
of the business community.
"Some educational
institutions are in the
forefront of community
service," he continued. "I
am thinking, however,
about efforts that might
lay the foundations for
undergraduate students
from many different
disciplines to pursue a
combinations of course
work and non-academic
projects to focus on the
connections between
business and the third
sector."
Mercy concluded his
address by quoting John
Sloan Dickey, president of
Dartmouth College in a
1959 commencement
address. "Look around. All
that is here was provided
for you by others. You, in
your turn, will be asked to
Commencement speaker Eugene Mercy, Jr.
Joe Ryan
'59 received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
provide for those who
follow."
Interim President
William C. Hittinger '44
conferred degrees upon the
candidates,, but not before
asking the Stabler Arena
audience to offer a moment
of silence in memory of
Donald B. Stabler '30,
who passed away on Dec.
30.
Mercy received an
honorary Doctor of Laws
degree, presented by
Nelson Markley, provost
and vice president for
academic affairs. Also given
a degree was Peter S.
Eagleson, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, who received
his honorary Doctor of
Engineering degree.
Candidates for degrees
were presented by Bobb
Carson, dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences; Patti
T. Ota, dean of the College
of Business and Economics;
Harvey G. Stenger, Jr.,
dean of the College of
Engineering and Applied
Sciences and Roland K.
Yoshida, dean of the College
of Education.
Father Andrew Baker
gave the invocation, while
Kasey Weil '98 led the
singing of the National
Anthem.
Raymond Bell, professor
of education and social
relations, served as the
university grand marshal.
James R. Mcintosh,
professor of sociology and
anthropology, was the mace
bearer.
Serving as head ushers
were Arnold R. Spokane,
professor of education and
human services, and Donald
R. Talhelm, professor
emeritus of electrical engineering. The Mainstreet
Brass provided the music for
the processional and recessional.
—Greg LaPlant '97
Joe Ryan
Prof, emerita
earns Ph.D.
Harriet Parmet, who
taught Hebrew and
courses on Israel at
Lehigh for 18 years as an
adjunct in the department
of modern foreign languages, received her
Ph.D. in English from
Lehigh Jan. 11. Her
dissertation was titled
The Terror of Our Days:
Sylvia Plath, William
Heyen, Gerald Stern and
Jerome Rothenberg
Poetically Respond to the
Holocaust. Parmet retired
as professor emerita in
1994.
Parmet was the co-
founder of Lehigh's
Jewish Studies program,
founder of the Jewish
Colloquia series, and
served as the adviser for
the Jewish Studies minor.
She co-authored a study
of feminist religious views
on reproductive technologies, a major article on
Holocaust heroine Haviva
Reik, and more than a
dozen other articles on
such topics as Jewish life
in Poland, the Jewish
essence of Franz Kafka,
and selected American
Jewish women poets. She
was elected to faculty
membership in Omicron
Delta Kappa and Phi Beta
Delta honorary societies.
She has bachelor's and
master's degrees from
Temple University and a
bachelor's degree in
Hebrew literature from
Gratz College.
Let us see those
pearly whites
Harriet Parmet, professor
emerita of modern foreign
languages, smiles as she
waits to receive her Ph.D
in English during the
January Commencement
Exercises.
m LEHIGH
^ir    University
LehighWeek
Office of Communications/Design
422 Brodhead Avenue
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015-3067
NON-PROFIT MAIL
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 230
Bethlehem, Pa. 18015