Historian and author Stephen Ambrose will be the featured speaker at Claremont McKenna College's 52nd Annual Commencement, which will be held at 2:00 pm on Sunday, May 16, 1999. Commencement will be held on campus at Badgley Garden, near the intersection of Sixth Street and Amherst Street in Claremont.
The commencement ceremony will feature a special honorary degree presentation to both President and Mrs. Jack L. Stark. The faculty and board of trustees have voted to present each with an honorary doctor of laws degree for their service to Claremont McKenna College. President Stark joined the CMC staff in 1961, became president in 1970, and retires on June 30. Jil Stark has also served the college in a variety of positions, most recently as the community coordinator of the college's Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.
In addition to the Starks, more than 250 men and women from across the country and several international students will be recognized on commencement day as the college awards bachelor of arts degrees to the Class of 1999, the largest class ever to enroll at CMC.
A distinguished author and historian, Stephen Ambrose is founder and president of the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans and served as the historical consultant on the film "Saving Private Ryan." His more than 20 books include the best-selling Citizen Soldiers: The US Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany and Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West. He has written biographies of Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Crazy Horse, and Gen. Custer.
Ambrose is director emeritus of the Eisenhower Center and is retired as the Boyd Professor of History at the University of New Orleans. He lives in Montana.
Claremont McKenna College is a highly selective independent liberal arts college preparing students for responsible leadership in business and public affairs. CMC enrolls 1,000 students and is a member of The Claremont Colleges.