Children’s television show

host “Mister Rogers” to speak at Middlebury College’s

commencement May 27

Middlebury to Award Honorary Degrees to

Rogers and Six Others

MIDDLEBURY, Vt.―Fred Rogers,

creator and host of the PBS children’s television show

“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”―the longest

running show on public television―will deliver the commencement

address at Middlebury College’s graduation ceremony on Sunday,

May 27. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. The

College will award honorary degrees to six other distinguished

individuals as well.

“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,”

which debuted nationally in 1968, is carried by more than 300 PBS

stations and reaches more than four million viewers each week. There

have been almost 900 half-hour episodes of “Mister Rogers’

Neighborhood.” Rogers ended production of his show this year in

January.

According to Middlebury College President John M. McCardell, Jr.,

Rogers is one of the most influential figures in the history of

children’s television. McCardell said, “Fred Rogers has never

wavered from his belief that showing love and compassion to our

children is the single most important element in their lives. We are

honored to recognize his positive influence on generations of

youngsters.”

An ordained Presbyterian minister,

Rogers began his television career in New York City as a production

assistant at NBC following his graduation from Rollins College in

1951. In 1953, he moved back to his native Pittsburgh at the request

of WQED, the nation’s first community-supported public

television station. Rogers developed the station’s first

programs, including, “The Children’s Corner,” a forerunner to

“Mister Rogers.”

In 1966, “Mister Rogers” aired on

WQED in its current half-hour length. Two years later, PBS made the

show available for national distribution.

Rogers has received every major award

in television for which he is eligible, including George Foster

Peabody Awards, Emmys, Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National

Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Television Critics

Association, and many others from special-interest groups in

education, communications, and early childhood. In 1999, he was

inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

Rogers is chairman of Family

Communications, the nonprofit company that he formed in 1971 to

produce “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and that has since

diversified into non-broadcast materials that reflect the same

philosophy and purpose as the show: to encourage the healthy

emotional growth of children and their families.

Rogers has a special connection to

Middlebury College. Conductor of the College choir and Twilight

Artist-in-Residence François Clemmons performed the role of

the friendly police officer, Officer Clemmons, on “Mr. Rogers’

Neighborhood” for 25 years. Clemmons, who created the role, often

sang on the show, drawing on his experience as an opera singer and

the founder of the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble.

The College also will present honorary degrees to six other

distinguished individuals, including Johnnetta B. Cole, who

will receive a Doctor of Letters degree. From 1987-1997, she served

as the seventh president of Spelman College, where she was the first

African-American woman to hold this post since the institution’s

founding in 1881. In 1998 Cole joined the faculty of Emory

University, where she is the Presidential Distinguished Professor of

Anthropology, Women’s Studies and African-American Studies. She

is also the author of “Conversations: Straight Talk with

America’s Sister President” and “Dream the Boldest Dreams: And

Other Lessons of Life.” Cole is an active participant in numerous

community, civic and corporate boards and organizations, including

The Carter Center and the National Council of Negro Women.

Lance R. Odden, headmaster of

The Taft School in Watertown, Conn., will receive a Doctor of Letters

degree. Odden began his career at Taft in 1961 after graduating from

Princeton University the same year. In 1967 he became chair of the

school’s history department, and in 1970 he began serving as

assistant headmaster. Two years later he assumed his current

position, from which he will retire this June after 29 years. A

leader in independent education in New England, Odden is the former

president of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the

Headmasters Association, and the Connecticut Association of

Independent Schools.

The College will award Doctor of

Humane Letters degrees to Patricia J. Palmer and her husband

and fellow member of the Middlebury class of 1957 Charles C.

Palmer. After working as a music therapist and a music teacher,

Patricia Palmer began a career as a volunteer for numerous civic

committees and organizations, including many associated with her town

of Wellesley Hills, Mass. As a charter member of the Middlebury

College board of trustees, she served as vice chair and secretary of

the board. Palmer, who is now a trustee emerita, is also the national

co-chair of the College’s $200 million Bicentennial capital

campaign. The many other organizations which she has served include

the League of Women Voters of Wellesley, the Wellesley Board of

Selectmen and the Newton Wellesley Hospital.

Charles Palmer, an economics major in

college, worked at Advest, a financial services company, from

1960-1992. Since then he has been employed by the firm Legg Mason as

senior vice president of investments. He has served his alma mater as

a volunteer in many areas, including career counseling, admissions

and fundraising. He is the recipient of two Middlebury College

awards, the Alumni Plaque Award and the Fred Neuberger Alumni

Admissions Award.

David L. Warren will receive a

Doctor of Letters degree. Since 1993, Warren has been president of

the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities

(NAICU), an organization representing 1,000 colleges, universities

and associations on public policy issues before the legislative,

executive and regulatory branches of the federal government. Prior to

holding this position, he served as the president of Ohio Wesleyan

University from 1984-1993. Warren is the author of numerous articles

on volunteerism, town-gown conflict, crisis management and theology.

His daughter Katrin E. Warren is a member of the Middlebury class of

2001.

The College will present Ekwow Spio-Garbrah

with a Doctor of Laws degree. He is chairman and chief executive

officer of S, G & A, a public relations and financial consulting

firm based in Ghana. Spio-Garbrah has served his native Ghana as a

public servant in many positions, including minister of education

from 1998-2001, minister of communications from 1997-1998, and

ambassador to the United States and Mexico from 1994-1997. He is the

father of Koby Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, a senior at Middlebury

College, and the uncle of Ben Gyepi-Garbrah of the Middlebury class

of 1993.

The outdoor graduation ceremonies

will take place on the lawn behind Forest Hall on College Street

(Route 125) at 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 27. More than 4,000 family and

friends are expected to attend. In the case of inclement weather,

commencement will be held in Kenyon Arena on Route 30.