OSU to award record number of degrees
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - Oregon State University will award nearly 4,600 degrees Sunday at its 139th commencement service.
The commencement speaker will be University of California-Berkley Director of Laboratory Animal Care Helen Diggs, who has become a national leader in veterinary medicine and animal welfare. She will receive an honorary doctorate.
Twenty-three other former Oregon State students will receive honorary bachelor's degrees. They are among the 42 students, all of Japanese ancestry who were forced to leave the university during the early years of World War II after President Roosevelt sent many of them to internment camps.
Many of these former students since have died. But at least five will return to campus and many others both living and deceased will be represented by family members.
Two OSU students Joel Fischer and Andy Kiyuna provided the impetus for recognizing the former students.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
