Large turnout expected for commencement

Graduation time is always a busy time of the year, but with former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton speaking at this year’s ceremony, the crowds and commotion can be expected to be even higher than normal.     

Normally, approximately 2,200 students register for graduation; this year, there were more than 2,500 registrants. Past years’ ceremonies averaged between 18,000 and 20,000, attendants. According to Director of Presidential Events and Programs Susan Entz, this year’s may bring as many as 25,000 registrants.     

Graduating seniors have until today to request up to six guest bracelets (students who wish to receive more than six bracelets will be accommodated on a case-by-case basis by the Office of Presidential Events and Programs). Those who have bracelets will be allowed into Cowell Stadium beginning at 6:30 a.m. on the day of commencement. The general public will then be permitted in at 8:45 a.m.; the ceremonies are expected to begin at 9:45 a.m.     

While having a bracelet will give guests priority over the general public, it does not necessarily guarantee a seat. According to Entz, more than 16,000 guest bracelets have already been distributed, with more expected. There will be a total of around 18,000 seats available for those attending, but after 8:45, having a bracelet will not ensure anything.    

“Our advice is to arrive early, especially if you have a bracelet,” Entz said.   

For those who don’t end up with seats in Cowell Stadium, but don’t want to stand to view the ceremony, there will also be a live simulcast of the event in the Whittemore Center Arena.    

According to Director of Media Relations Erica Mantz, the former presidents are not being paid for their services at the event. But the need for more security has made the event more costly than most commencement ceremonies.      

The two former presidents began teaming up in an effort to aid victims of the tsunami in Indonesia, and have continued to work together in recent years to bring awareness to other humanitarian issues, including Hurricane Katrina. The two were the keynote speakers at Tulane University’s commencement ceremony last year. For more information on this year’s commencement ceremonies, go to www.unh.edu/commencement.

third issue of Inquiry journal brings student writers and editors together

In late April, after eight months of collaboration between student writers and editors, Inquiry 2007 went live at www.unh.edu/inquiryjournal.     

The third annual issue of UNH’s online undergraduate research journal provides students with a virtual space in which to showcase their research projects and share their academic experiences. Submissions come from every discipline and are written to appeal to not only an academic audience, but also a general audience that might be intrigued by what student researchers are discovering.     

In the current issue, for example, readers can ponder an analysis that compares today’s returning soldiers to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, learn about the emerging field of bioinformatics, reflect on a philosophical approach to global warming or discover if chickens could really lay healthier eggs. That’s just a sample of the 14 research articles, two feature articles and four commentaries published in this issue.     

David Palange, a senior history major and author of the commentary “Reading Letters Not Addressed to Me,” analyzed letters written by American soldiers from the Revolutionary War, Civil War and World War II for his Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship project last summer. He says that submitting his work to Inquiry provided him with “the challenge of condensing ten weeks worth of work, as well as my thoughts and experiences, into a few pages. It forced me to look introspectively and consider exactly the ways I have grown through my experiences in the SURF program.”

happy 275th birthday, Durham

On May 13, the town of Durham turned 275 years old. The date also marked the 374th anniversary of the original settlement, Oyster River Plantation, from which Durham grew.    

Before the town became its own, the community was part of the Oyster River Parish of Dover. Once land was cleared at Oyster River Plantation, families settled in and began farming in soil rich and unspoiled. Farming combined well with fishing, lumbering and trapping, but grew in importance, as grants became available inland.     

Richard Lord, a member of the board of directors of the Durham Historical Association, has the responsibility of restoring and taking care of Durham artifacts. The association’s office, above Durham’s courthouse, is filled with reminders of the town’s legacy, from old newspaper scrapbooks to irreplaceable town documents, old water pumps, postcards, wedding dresses, paintings by artist and former UNH professor John Hatch and the old 1875 town hearse that has built-in sleds, or “snow rollers,” on the bottom so horses could maneuver it through heavy snow.   

Lord says that the entire courthouse we know today used to house the town office, post office and police station. The upstairs that houses all the old memorabilia was used for a youth basketball court.     

In the old days, the town center was located along the mouth of the Oyster River, as it is depicted in one of Hatch’s most famous panorama murals, which depicts ship building in Durham and other commerce from the time. That very mural is going to be dedicated at the Town Landing at the Oyster River footbridge on Tuesday, June 26, the date of the 275th anniversary of the first town meeting, held by Capt. Francis Mathes.    

Throughout the month of June, the historical association will host open houses. Following the June 26 dedication of Hatch’s mural will be an annual picnic, followed by a featured speaker, New Hampshire author and humorist Rebecca Rule. Also throughout June, the association will be selling its town jigsaw puzzle.    

For more information on the history of Durham’s 275 years, contact the Durham Historical Association at 603-868-2700.    

(All historical information not credited to Richard Lord was found in “History in an Osytershell: 1600-1976” by Philip A. Wilcox and members of the DHA.)