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For Immediate Release
Contact:
Leslie Weddell
(719) 389-6038
Leslie.Weddell@ColoradoCollege.edu
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING EDITORIAL CARTOONIST
TO SPEAK AT CC’S COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY
Richard Celeste, poet Anne Carson, also to receive honorary degrees
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – May 17, 2011 – Mark Fiore, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for political cartooning and widely regarded as one of the best online journalists at work in the United States, will address the Colorado College Class of 2011 at its commencement at 8:30 a.m. Monday, May 23. In addition to Fiore, a member of the Colorado College Class of 1991, Richard F. Celeste, the 12th president of Colorado College, and Anne Carson, the Canadian poet, philosopher and critic, also will receive honorary degrees.
Approximately 470 undergraduate members of the Class of 2011 and seven master of arts in teaching students will receive their degrees at Colorado College’s commencement ceremony.
The ceremony will take place on Armstrong Quad, 14 E. Cache La Poudre St., directly north of the intersection of Tejon and Cache La Poudre streets. Cascade Avenue will be closed from Uintah to Cache La Poudre streets from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the commencement ceremony.
Fiore’s interest in art appeared in middle school and continued to grow. “I was the kid that was always drawing,” he said. As a political science major at CC, he merged his artistic talents with his studies of a broad array of subjects in the liberal arts, but politics had a special fascination for him.
His Pulitzer citation reads: “Awarded to Mark Fiore, self-syndicated, for his animated cartoons appearing on SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle website, where his biting wit, extensive research and ability to distill complex issues set a high standard for an emerging form of commentary.” The Pulitzer award was the first ever given for entirely online journalistic animations. The Wall Street Journal called him “The undisputed guru of the form.” The American Library Association Booklist noted the “unique and personal vision” of his cartoons. His work can be found at Slate.com, CBS News.com, the NPR website, and his own site, Mark Fiore.com.
Also receiving an honorary is Celeste, who began his term as president of Colorado College in July 2002, and will leave the position on June 30. Prior to joining CC, Celeste served as the United States ambassador to India under President Bill Clinton from 1997-2001. From 1982-1990 he served as governor of Ohio, where he expanded health care, education and welfare. He served as director of the United States Peace Corps (1979-1981) under President Jimmy Carter and was responsible for 53 countries. Previously, he served one term as lieutenant governor of Ohio (1974-1978) and two terms as an Ohio state representative (1970-1974). He was special assistant to Chester Bowles, then ambassador to India, from 1963-67.
Equally at ease in the private sector, Celeste was a managing partner of Celeste and Sabety Ltd., an economic development consultancy. Active in academia before arriving at CC, he was a Rhodes Scholar and magna cum laude Yale graduate who served as a visiting fellow in public policy at Case Western University. He currently is chair of the board of trustees of the Health Effects Institute in Boston, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, chair of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Board of Directors, a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy, and a lifetime national associate of the National Academies.
The third recipient of an honorary degree, Carson, revels in breaking distinctions of genre, mixing verse and essay, etymology and poetry, narrative and dramatic modes. She has, for example, published two novels in verse: “Autobiography of Red” and “The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos.” “Autobiography of Red” takes its cue from yet another ancient Greek poet, Stesichorus. Carson’s art collapses the whole history of poetry from the ancients to the avant-garde, and she manages effortlessly to be both ancient and avant-garde herself.
In the last decade, Carson has devoted herself largely to translation work. Her collection of the fragments of Sappho, “If Not, Winter,” celebrates the conjectural quality of everything we think we “know” about the archaic poet, while her versions of Euripides, collected in “Grief Lessons,” bring to life the various ways in which “the actor, by reiterating you, sacrifices a moment of his own life in order to give you a story of yours.” Carson’s most recent book, “Nox,” unfolds from within a box as an accordion-folded scroll.
In the event of inclement weather on Monday, the commencement exercises will take place in the Colorado Springs World Arena, 3185 Venetucci Blvd., in Colorado Springs. If weather is a concern, listen to Colorado College’s radio station, KRCC-FM 91.5, for announcements.
For information, directions or disability accommodation at the event, members of the public may call (719) 389-6607.
About Colorado College
Colorado College is a nationally prominent, four-year liberal arts college that was founded in Colorado Springs in 1874. The college operates on the innovative Block Plan, in which its 2,025 undergraduate students study one course at a time in intensive 3½-week segments. The college also offers a master of arts in teaching degree. For more information, visit www.ColoradoCollege.edu <http://www.ColoradoCollege.edu>.