Rice to hold 91st commencement May 8

Rice
to hold 91st commencement May 8

Rice’s 91st
graduation ceremony will be held May 8, with Rice alumnus
and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales presenting the
commencement address.

Gonzales graduated
with honors from Rice in 1979 with a degree in political
science. He earned a law degree from Harvard in 1982. Gonzales
was commissioned as counsel to the president in January
2001. Prior to joining the White House staff, Gonzales was
a justice on the Supreme Court of Texas, a position he held
throughout 1999 and 2000. Before his appointment to the
Texas Supreme Court by then-Governor Bush, Gonzales served
as Texas’ 100th secretary of state. He also served
as general counsel to Bush for three years after practicing
law as a partner with Vinson and Elkins in Houston.

Commencement
weekend will include a variety of activities, including
the Class of 2004 convocation, the Shepherd School of Music
Presidential Concert and a presidential reception. Those
events will start at 7:45 p.m. Friday, May 7, in the Shepherd
School’s Alice Pratt Brown Hall and will be followed
by a 10:15 p.m. fireworks display in the Rice Stadium parking
lot.

Other weekend
events include the Student Art Exhibition at the Rice Art
Gallery in Sewall Hall and division and department receptions
at various locations across campus on Friday.

Graduation will
begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in the academic quadrangle.
In the event of severe inclement weather, the ceremony will
be held in Autry Court.

Those planning
to attend commencement should note that entrances 1 and
2 to the university will be closed May 8. Parking will be
available in the Stadium Lot, accessible through Entrance
8, and in the North Lot at Entrance 13.

Commencement
also will be webcast; visit <www.rice.edu/webcast/>
for more information.