4-21-09

Dr. Elijah Anderson

Rev. Kenneth Arthur

Amber Rock

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Lycoming College will hold its Class of 2009 graduation ceremonies May 9-10. Dr. Elijah Anderson, a distinguished Yale University sociologist, will be the keynote speaker at Lycoming’s 161st commencement ceremony scheduled for Sunday, May 10, at 1 p.m. on the College’s Quad. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in the Recreation Center.

The commencement senior student speaker is Amber Rock of Chambersburg, Pa. Her speech was chosen by a committee of faculty, staff and seniors. At Lycoming’s 2009 Honors Convocation, Rock received the Biology Department Academic Excellence Award, given to a senior biology major who, after seven semesters of coursework, has the highest cumulative grade point average. She also won the Walter G. McIver Award, presented to an outstanding and dedicated choir member who has made significant campus contributions outside of choir.

The speaker for baccalaureate, to be held Saturday, May 9, in the Recreation Center, is Lycoming alumnus the Rev. Kenneth R. Arthur. Before retiring in 2006, he served for 35 years as executive director of the United Methodist Home for Children, Inc., in Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Anderson, who spoke at the College on Sept. 25, 2008, is the William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Sociology at Yale University. He has written and edited numerous books, book chapters and reports on the black experience. His books include “Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City” (1999), winner of the 2000 Komarovsky Award from the Eastern Sociological Association; “Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community” (1990), winner of the American Sociological Association’s Robert E. Park Award for the best published book in the area of urban sociology; and the classic sociological work, “A Place on the Corner: A Study of Black Street Corner Men” (1978; 2nd ed., 2003).

In addition to his numerous literary awards, Anderson has won the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania; and he was named the Robin M. Williams Jr., Distinguished Lecturer for 1999-2000 by the Eastern Sociological Society. In 2006, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Northwestern University.

Anderson has served on the board of directors of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and was vice president of the American Sociological Association. He has served as a consultant to a variety of government agencies, including the White House, the United States Congress, the National Academy of Science and the National Science Foundation. He was a member of the National Research Council’s Panel on the Understanding and Control of Violent Behavior. He serves as director of the Philadelphia Ethnography Project and the Yale Urban Ethnography Project.

Before joining the faculty at Yale in July 2007, Anderson had taught at the University of Pennsylvania since 1975. He has also served as visiting professor at Swarthmore College, Princeton University and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France.

Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree at Indiana University, a master’s at the University of Chicago and a doctorate from Northwestern University, where he was a Ford Foundation Fellow.

Arthur, the baccalaureate speaker, has 48 years of service in the ministry. He has served in a variety of capacities with several community organizations and has held numerous board positions. In 2002, he was presented Lycoming’s Bishop D. Frederick Wertz Award for Outstanding Service to the Church. In May 2007, he received The Society of John Wesley Award, the highest honor that Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., presents to alumni. Earlier this year, Arthur received the 2009 Olen E. Oeschger Memorial Award, which is the highest award presented by The United Methodist Association of Health and Welfare Ministries.

Arthur has served as the chaplain to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, the Senate for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and the Chaplain of the Day for the Congress of the United States.

Arthur earned a bachelor’s degree from Lycoming in 1958 and a Master of Divinity from the Wesley Theological Seminary in 1961. He and is his wife, Margaret, have four children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Three of his children graduated from Lycoming.

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