Largest Class Ever - 5,101 To Graduate May 3 At University of Florida

April 25, 1997

GAINESVILLE — The University of Florida expects to graduate its largest class ever as 5,101 students complete their studies at the end of the spring semester next week.

Nearly 3,500 are expected participate in one of two commencement ceremonies scheduled for 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. May 3 in the Stephen C. O Connell Center on the UF campus or at individual college commencement ceremonies later in the month.

UF’s College of Medicine will graduate 115 new physicians at 10 a.m. May 24 at the Center for the Performing Arts. Commencement ceremonies for the College of Veterinary Medicine will begin at 2 p.m. in the University Auditorium. Seventy-seven doctor of veterinary medicine degrees will be awarded. The College of Law commencement is at 10:30 a.m. May 17 at the Center for the Performing Arts.

The speaker for the May 3 ceremonies will be Margretta Madden Styles, who also will receive an honorary doctorate in science in recognition of her career in academic nursing. She earned a doctorate in education from the University of Florida in 1968.

Douglas Leigh, who studied journalism and business at UF from 1925 to 1928, is honored as a Distinguished Alumnus for his lifelong commitment to defining and developing the advertising industry. Leigh came to be known as “the man who lights up Broadway” after he used thousands of lights to transform New York City’s Times Square into what is now referred to as the Great White Way.

Also honored as a Distinguished Alumnus is Dr. Pedro Jose Greer Jr. Greer is being recognized for his medical and humanitarian contributions to society’s medically underserved. Greer’s career as an advocate for the poor began while volunteering at Camillus House, a shelter for the homeless in downtown Miami.

Traditionally, the spring graduation awards degrees to the largest number of students each year. UF President John Lombardi attributes the large size of this spring’s graduating class to a variety of factors including better advising on the part of the university and efficiency on the part of the students.

“Better advising and tracking means they (the students) get out earlier,” Lombardi said. “Better students in our classes mean more of them succeed in a reasonable amount of time, which makes for a bigger (graduating) class. The university does a fine job of teaching students, but it also does a fine job of advising them in departments.”