Record Number to Graduate at Commencement
Five to receive honorary doctorates

A record-breaking number of USI students will be eligible to receive degrees in May.

At its meeting March 7, the University’s Board of Trustees approved 1,438 candidates for associate, baccalaureate, and master's degrees.

Dr. Edward G. Boehne

The board also voted to bestow honorary doctoral degrees upon Rosemarie Albers of Anderson, Ind.; Dr. Z. Olen Pumphrey and Inez G. Pumphrey of Fort Branch, Ind.; Stephen Pace of New York City and Rockport, Maine; and Dr. Edward G. Boehne of Devon, Pa., who will serve as the 2002 Commencement speaker.

The retired president and CEO of Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Boehne is uncle to USI student Jason N. Rouser, who will receive a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration during this year’s Commencement ceremony.

Active in determining the nation's monetary policy through membership on the Federal Open Market Committee, Boehne is an alumnus of Indiana University, where he earned undergraduate, master's, and Ph.D. degrees. A civic leader, he served on the boards of directors of a Pennsylvania hospital, the United Way, and the Union League. He also was a trustee of Baldwin School and Thomas Jefferson University.

Like Boehne, who is an Evansville native and Bosse graduate, this year’s other honorees have roots in southern Indiana.

Albers, also an Evansville native and Bosse graduate, is a Vanderbilt University alumna who worked as a medical technologist in California, New Jersey, and Indiana before retiring in 1978. A community volunteer, she has worked with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and the American Red Cross, where she served as an instructor in water safety and advanced first aid emergency care. She also was a member of the Board of Directors for the Madison County American Red Cross and served as board chairman from 1988 to 1990. Albers, with her father W. Paul Torrington, supports the science program at USI.

Dr. and Mrs. Pumphrey, lifelong residents of Fort Branch, serve respectively as president and vice president of the Dr. Z. Olen and Inez G. Pumphrey Family Foundation that provides scholarships for 20 USI students. They also endowed the first two Dean’s Scholarships at the University through a gift to the Gibson County Community Foundation. Dr. Pumphrey graduated from veterinary school at Kansas State University and began practice in Fort Branch in 1947. Mrs. Pumphrey, who worked with her husband in his veterinary practice, is a graduate of Oakland City University and taught for 20 years in Gibson County. Together they established the first veterinary clinic in Fort Branch and served the Tri-State for more than 40 years. Dr. Pumphrey retired in 1988.

Raised in Posey County, Pace became a prominent member of the New York Abstract Expressionists in the 1950s. As a teen, he studied with Robert Lahr, an accomplished artist living in Evansville, who helped Pace achieve a high degree of mastery in drawing and watercolor. He also studied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico, Art Students League in New York, and the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Italy. Pace’s creations have been exhibited in the nation's most important galleries and museums. A New York Times review hailed his work for its highly sophisticated use of color and its bold, joyous composition. Two of his paintings are on display at USI; one hangs in the University Center and the other in the Liberal Arts Center.

The 2002 USI Commencement ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. May 5 at Roberts Stadium.

<--Back to Connect Online

---

USI Home | Academics | Calendar | Athletics | Visitors | Events and News | Administration

8600 University Boulevard - Evansville, IN 47712-3596 - 812/464-8600

Copyright © 2009 University of Southern Indiana. All rights reserved.