"A university president's job over Commencement weekend is something like that of an orchestra conductor. He has to keep everything going at the same time and rarely has the chance to sit down and enjoy the performance."

-- President E. Gordon Gee, at the groundbreaking for new engineering laboratories to be built as an extension of Barus and Holley.

"Scandal has a thousand stringers. Good news doesn't know the editor's phone number."

-- Washington Post urban-affairs columnist and honorary-degree recipient William Raspberry, at at a forum on "The Media's Fascination with Conflict."

"This is truly the Brown family's weekend. And an important part of every family gathering is to remember those who are no longer here to celebrate with us."

-- University Chaplain Janet Cooper-Nelson, speaking at a Sunday all-class memorial service in Sayles Hall.

"Nope. You want to compete. You want to train. And you want to win."

-- Jo Hannafin '77 M.D., Ph.D., a former member of the women's rowing team, at a forum titled "Women Champions: 25 Years in the Ivies." She was responding to an audience member who asked whether male and female athletes have different motivations.

Brian Dickinson, Doctor of Humane Letters Editorial columnist, Providence Journal. Since 1992 has been fighting Lou Gehrigs disease, but continues to contribute regularly to the Op-Ed page by using a special computer.

James Freedman, Doctor of Laws
President of Dartmouth from 1987 to 1998, cited for making campus an intellectual haven. Author of Idealism and Liberal Education.

John Glenn, Doctor of Laws
Four-term U.S. Senator and both the first and the oldest American to orbit the Earth.

John Hume, Doctor of Laws
Nobel laureate and Northern Irelands most influential moderate Roman Catholic political leader. Ruth Kirschstein, Doctor of Medical Science Deputy director of the National Institutes of Health and a Brown parent.

Queen Noor of Jordan, Doctor of Humane Letters
With her late husband, King Hussein, has worked, over two decades, for international exchange and understanding in the Middle East. A prominent activist in the fight to ban antipersonnel mines.

In March was appointed president of the European Commission. Former prime minister of Italy.

Romano Prodi, Doctor of Laws

William J. Raspberry, Doctor of Letters
Urban affairs columnist for the Washington Post and professor in the School of Public Policy at Duke University.

Steven Spielberg, Doctor of Humane Letters
Filmmaker who has directed or produced seven of the twenty top-grossing films of all time, including Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, and Schindler's List.

Julia Taft, Doctor of Laws
U.S. assistant secretary of state for population, refugees, and migration. Active on refugee issues since 1975, when President Gerald Ford appointed her director of the Interagency Task Force for Indochina Refugees.