April 26, 2001

Humanitarian To Receive Honorary Degree; More Than 1,400 Degrees
To Be Conferred At WKU's Commencement May 6

Bowling Green, Ky. - Larry Jones, the founder of Feed The Children, will receive an honorary doctorate May 6 during Western Kentucky University's Spring 2001 Commencement Ceremony.

Jones, a native of Scottsville who grew up in Bowling Green, founded the international relief agency in 1979. Jones and the organization have received numerous awards for their humanitarian efforts in areas affected by war, famine or disaster.

More than 1,400 degrees will be conferred at Western's 149th Commencement with about 1,100 students expected to participate in the ceremony. The University will confer 145 associate degrees, 1,116 baccalaureate degrees and 205 master's/specialist degrees for a total of 1,466.

Jones and WKU President Gary Ransdell will deliver commencement remarks.

Commencement will begin at 1:30 p.m. at L.T. Smith Stadium. In the event of rain, two commencement ceremonies will be held at 1:30 and 4:30 in E.A. Diddle Arena.
"Students have notified which ceremony they are to attend in the event of rain and parents and guests have also been provided that information through invitations that were mailed," Registrar Freida Eggleton said.

If the weather appears questionable, information will be available at 9:30 a.m. May 6 by calling (270) 745-0111 or (270) 745-3351 or by checking the WKU homepage at www.wku.edu

Under the rain plan, graduates of the Gordon Ford College of Business, College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Interdisciplinary Studies and Graduate Studies will participate in the 1:30 ceremony at Diddle Arena; graduates of Potter College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Ogden College of Science, Technology and Health and the Bowling Green Community College will participate in the 4:30 ceremony.

Western's international students will be recognized with a procession of flags representing each country with at least one student graduating. Each flag will be carried by a graduate from that country. If the country has more than one student graduating, the flag will be carried by the student with the highest grade-point average.

Western's Public Television Service, WKYU-PBS, will broadcast the commencement ceremony live on channel 24. The event will be rebroadcast at 8 a.m. May 13.

For more information, contact Registrar Freida Eggleton at (270) 745-3351. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu.