Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University, will deliver the graduation address at the University of Vermont’s 2005 Commencement on Sunday, May 22. The ceremony will again be held on the University Green, a tradition that was re-established with last year’s commencement for the university’s 200th graduating class.

When Ruth Simmons assumed the presidency of Brown University in July 2001 she became the first black woman to lead an Ivy League institution. Simmons’ story, her rise from a Texas sharecropping family to the Brown presidency, has made her one of the nation’s most inspiring and visible higher education leaders. At Brown her initiatives have included moving swiftly to enrich academics by expanding the faculty, strengthening diversity throughout the university, and establishing a need-blind financial aid process. A scholar of Romance languages and literatures who earned her doctorate from Harvard University, Simmons’ academic career has included leadership roles at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Smith College, where she was president from 1995 to 2001.

In addition to Ruth Simmons, honorary degrees will be awarded to Lilian Baker Carlisle, Herbert Bormann, Thomas Cech, and Adam Clymer.

Burlington resident Lilian Baker Carlisle is a well-known local historian, author, and antiques appraiser, experience fostered by her long working relationship with Electra Havermeyer Webb at the Shelburne Museum. A state representative from 1969 to 1970, Baker Carlisle was also a founding member of both the Chittenden County Historical Society and the Fleming Museum Advisory Board. She earned her UVM bachelor’s degree in history at age 69 in 1981, and followed with her master’s in 1986.

Herbert Bormann, professor emeritus at Yale University, is a pioneering ecosystem ecologist who has devoted much of his career to the study of New England’s forests. He is co-founder of the famed Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study in New Hampshire and his research played a critical role in establishing the threat of acid rain to ecosystems in North America. With books such as Redesigning the American Lawn: A Search for Environmental Harmony, Bormann has also reached the general public with his work. As a visiting professor and adjunct faculty member, he has long worked with and helped to shape UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thomas R. Cech received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1989 and has served as president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a scientific and philanthropic organization dedicated to the conduct of basic biomedical research, since 2000. Cech’s Nobel Prize was in recognition for his work in the discovery of ribozymes. Prior to assuming leadership of the Hughes Institute, Cech was an investigator at HHMI since 1988, and was on the faculty of the University of Colorado before that. Cech’s leadership at the Hughes Institute has been key to promoting programs such as the Hughes Endeavor for Life Science Excellence, which strengthen undergraduate science education by more deeply involving students in the research process. UVM is among a select group of institutions to receive on-going Hughes support for HELiX.

Adam Clymer’s more than four decades in journalism include 26 years as The New York Times’ chief Washington correspondent, where he has covered Congress, the White House, and presidential campaigns. Since his retirement in 2003, Clymer has been a visiting scholar and political director of the National Annenberg Election Survey. Adam and Ann Clymer established the Jane emily Clymer Scholarship in the UVM College of Arts and Sciences in memory of their daughter.