Calvin College will hold its Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 22 at 3 p.m. in the Calvin College Fieldhouse. Approximately 800 students will receive diplomas at the ceremony.Ìý

They will listen to 1999 Commencement speaker Dr. Gloria Goris Stronks (left), Professor of Education at Calvin. Dr. Stronks will speak on the topic: "Planning A Life."Ìý

She says: "It doesn't take very much insight to recognize that life after graduation will have both delightful times and times of disappointment. My Commencement Address will concern a group of Calvin College students who recognized that their lives will have such moments and who then described ways in which they thought their Calvin education would provide direction so they could look forward to a future with hope."Ìý

Calvin seniors also will witness the presentation of Calvin's highest alumni honor -- the Distinguished Alumni Award -- to Jonathan Bradford of Grand Rapids and F. Stuart Kingma of Atlanta (see below for brief bios). Calvin College has presented its Distinguished Alumni Awards -- intended to honor those who have made significant contributions in their field of endeavor - annually since 1966.Ìý

Commencement activities actually will begin on Friday, May 21 with a 5:30 p.m. Worship Service in the Calvin College Chapel. Following that will be a Commencement Picnic for seniors and their families (from 6:15 until 7:45 p.m.). An Honors Commencement Concert will take place Friday, May 21 at 8 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center. Also, at 8 p.m. in the Chapel the school's Education Department will hold its Teacher Certification Ceremony.Ìý

Bios of Bradford and KingmaÌý

Bradford is a 1972 Calvin graduate who has served for the last 18 years as the executive director of the Inner City Christian Federation, a non-profit organization producing high quality and affordable housing for and with low income families in the city of Grand Rapids. ICCF began in 1974 as an outreach ministry of Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church. It struggled some in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but, thanks in large part to Bradford's visionary leadership, ICCF has become one of the state's true success stories in the area of non-profit housing. ICCF now not only provides emergency shelter but also builds new homes, rehabs abandoned homes and runs a mortgage program for those who cannot qualify for a conventional mortgage.Ìý

F. Stuart Kingma is a 1950 graduate of Calvin who was a 35-year public health official with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. During his tenure there he worked on a variety of important research teams. He began by heading up national efforts to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases. In the 1960s he organized and directed a team of 200 health workers who inspected all the hospitals in the South to ensure that they were in compliance with the newly passed Civil Rights legislation. In 1972 he was detailed to the World Health Organization to help organize the smallpox eradication program in India and Bangladesh. In his final years at the CDC he developed a national plan to protect the country from chemical and biological warfare. Upon "retirement" he joined the staff of the Carter Presidential Center to manage a program aimed at combating river blindness in Africa.Ìý