Deval Patrick, governor of Massachusetts, will deliver the principal address at MIT's 143rd Commencement exercises Friday morning, June 5, in Killian Court.
Patrick was the first in his family to attend college; he graduated from Harvard University with honors in 1978 and entered Harvard Law School in 1979. President Bill Clinton appointed Patrick assistant attorney general for civil rights in 1994, and he was elected as the first African-American governor of Massachusetts in November 2006. As governor, Patrick is a member of the MIT Corporation.
Admission to MIT's Commencement exercises for ticketed guests begins at 7:45 a.m. Graduates will robe and assemble on the second floor of Johnson Athletic Center beginning at 7:30 a.m.
Following the exercises, a reception will be held for graduates and their guests on the Kresge Oval.
In all, 937 undergraduate students and 1,342 graduate students are scheduled to receive 1,082 undergraduate degrees and 1,441 graduate degrees.
A special hooding ceremony for PhD recipients will begin at 11 a.m. on Thursday, June 4, in the Johnson Athletics Center.
For guests attending the Commencement exercises on Friday, limited complimentary parking will be available in the West Garage and West Garage Annex.
Employees with West Garage area permits are urged to use alternate modes of transportation on the day of Commencement. For those who must drive, parking will be in the 158 Massachusetts Ave. Lot, N42 Lot, 70 Pacific St. Lot, 65 Waverly St. Lot, the Albany Garage, and N10 lots.
In the event the Commencement exercises in Killian Court are canceled due to severe weather conditions, the speeches will be held in Rockwell Cage for the stage assembly and graduates only. Guests may view the speeches on closed-circuit television in viewing locations throughout the campus.
Complete Commencement information is available at http://web.mit.edu/commencement/2009.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 3, 2009 (download PDF).
