LehighNow Volume 01, Issue 05

              LEHIGHNOW
January 17, 2001
Volume 1, Issue 5
Yoshida tells graduates:
Remember the magic
IN BRIEF
NEW FACES
Plympton
named
VP of finance
Margaret F. "Peggy"
Plympton, vice president
for finance and administration at Bucknell
University and a 20-year
veteran of higher
education financial
management, has been
named vice president for
finance and administration, effective next month.
"We have found a very
fine individual to lead
our outstanding finance
and administration area,"
said Lehigh President
Gregory Farrington.
"Peggy's experience, track
record and accomplishments are outstanding."
At Bucknell, Plympton
oversaw a staff of 400
responsible for financial
operations and planning,
investment management,
physical plant, personnel,
public safety, purchasing,
conference services,
dining services and the
bookstore.
Previously, she served
as executive director of
student support services
and director of administrative services at Yale, as
vice president for
information technology
and associate treasurer at
Wellesley College, and as
assistant dean for financial
operations at Harvard.
Plympton has an
M.B. A. from Boston
University and a B.A.
from Wellesley.
Lehigh Provost Ron
Yoshida exhorted 410
graduates at commencement exercise on Sunday,
Jan. 14, to dream, make
discoveries and inspire
others by drawing on their
imaginations and also on
the "magic of this university that has become our
home."
"I am sure that, during
your academic career at
Lehigh, you encountered
many superb faculty
members who are also
contributing to our
understanding of ourselves, our culture, and our
environment," said
Yoshida. "They continue to
imagine and they are
helping to guide their
students along that path.
"No matter the degree
[you have earned], you and
your professors have
shared in the magic of
learning - the passionate
drive to discover, and to
create.
"As you receive your
diplomas, remember that
you are at a single point
along a life-long journey of
learning and imagining.
Lehigh is recognizing your
accomplishments. But
Lehigh and your professors
are looking forward to the
promise that your futures
hold in dreaming and in
making new discoveries -
discoveries that will inspire
others, as you have been
inspired."
Yoshida singled out two
dozen professors from all
four of Lehigh's colleges
for praise.
Photo by Pam Shealey
More than half a century after he earned his degree, James F. Wilson
'44 (left) finally inarched with grandson Tim Doherty '00
Families that
study
together...
James F. Wilson '44 traveled
the world, started his own
business, lived through the
Great Depression and
survived a world war. But
there's one thing he never got
the chance to do: walk in a
graduation procession.
On Sunday, Jan. 13,2001,
Wilson, 74, finally had his
day. He marched up to the
stage with his grandson,
Tim Doherty '00 of
Pennington, N.J., to receive
an undergraduate degree in
mechanical engineering.
"It was a wonderful, warm
moment that I'll always
remember," says Wilson,
who now runs a radiation-
measuring device business
in post-retirement in his
West Trenton, N.J.
Wilson was called into
active duty with the U.S.
Maritime Service just before
he was due to receive his
degree in 1944. Years later,
in conversations with his
grandson, Wilson mentioned
the fact that he never actually
attended his own commencement, and that he received
his degree in the mail.
Doherty, who is staying at
Lehigh an extra year to earn
his master's degree in
economics as a President's
scholar, asked Lehigh
President Greg Farrington if
his grandfather could process.
" When Grandpa walked
across the stage, the room
erupted in applause. I'm
glad he finally had the
chance to experience this
traditional rite of passage."
Meanwhile, Elsie Hamel
'99, an assistant in chemistry
for 29 years, received her
master's in English as her
youngest daughter, Marianne
Hamel, received a Ph.D. in
molecular biology.
The degrees were the sixth
and seventh the Hamel
family has earned at Lehigh.
In 1999, Elsie Hamel earned
a B.A. in English and
Marianne earned an M.S. in
molecular biology.
Hamel's husband,
Coleman, a retired chemistry professor from Kutztown
University and Moravian
College, earned a Ph.D. in
chemistry in 1969. The
couple's oldest daughter,
Lorraine, a dentist, earned a
B.A. in English in 1984, and
their middle daughter,
Virginia, a lawyer, earned a
B.A. in English in 1987.
-Linda Harbrecht