JULY, 1968
Largest Class Since 50 Graduates
President Paul F. Geren is shown at right with Dr. Malcolm Knight, left, and Harold C.
Bennett, both of whom received honorary degrees at Stetson's Commencement June 2nd.
Dr. Knight, Stetson Trustee, received the honorary Doctor of Letters degree, while
Bennett, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention, received the
honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Construction Plans Set For New Music Building
Construction plans for a new
School of Music on the DeLand campus of Stetson University were announced June 30th by President
Paul F. Geren.
The new classroom building, to be
called Theodore Presser Hall, will
cost an estimated $1,000,000 with
furnishings and will be located to the
South of Elizabeth Hall on Woodland
Boulevard.
The construction timetable calls
-for ground breaking by late September and completion of the building
by summer 1969.
The building will include theory
classrooms, rehearsal rooms, teach
ing studios, and student practice
rooms, with space provided in a fully
equipped music library for reference
material, periodicals, scores, recordings, and a large reading room.
Funds to be used in the construction and furnishing of the music
school include $167,000 contributed
by Florida Baptists and a $200,000
gift from The Presser Foundation.
The remaining costs will be met by
a $618,000 loan from the United
States government. The Department
of Health, Education, and Welfare
approved the loan
"We are pleased to know that our
School of Music will soon be moving
Continued on Page 4
Stetson's largest class since the
post-World War II veteran's bulge was
graduated at the 85th Commencement on Sunday, June 2, in the
Forest of Arden. A total of 350 degrees were conferred, 26 for master's
studies and 324 on the baccalaureate
level. Thirty-one students were
graduated with honors. This was
the biggest class since June, 1950,
when over 450 degrees were granted
in liberal arts and music in addition
to 110 law degrees.
Sunday began early for the graduates with the Baccalaureate Services
in the Forest of Arden at 8 a.m. Delivering the address was Dr. Malcolm B. Knight, pastor of the
Southside Baptist Church of Jacksonville, and a Stetson Trustee. Dr.
Knight, father of graduating senior
Judy Knight, received a Doctor of
Letters degree during Commencement exercises Sunday night .
Graduation began at 7 p.m. in the
Forest of Arden with President Paul
F. Geren granting the degrees. A
second honorary degree, the Doctor
of Laws, was presented to Harold
Clark Bennett, Executive Secretary
of the Florida Baptist Convention.
Thirty-six ROTC Commissions were
presented during Commencement to
seniors by Major General C. H.
Chorpening,. (USA, Ret.), assisted by
Lieutenant Colonel David D. McCor-
vey, Professor of Military Science at
Stetson. Some of these new Army
officers will begin active duty immediately while many have received
delays in order to attend graduate
school.
Dr. J. Ollie Edmunds, Stetson
Chancellor, spoke at the Baccalaureate Service but was unable to attend
the evening program as he was to
deliver the Commencement address
at Wake Forest University that night.
The granting of 63 Juris Doctor
degrees took place Saturday, June 1,
at the law campus in St. Petersburg.
