MEADVILLE, Pa. – May 5, 2008 – The Commencement ceremony at Allegheny College on Sunday, May 11 at 10 a.m. will honor 554 graduates – thought to be the largest class in the college's history – and feature an address by Allegheny president Richard J. Cook.
Cook, who is retiring at the end of the academic year, will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters.
During his tenure as the 20th president of Allegheny College, the campus has seen remarkable growth, guided by two strategic plans developed with college-wide input. Applications for admission have set records for four consecutive years, the college's financial endowment has doubled to more than $150 million, and the largest fund-raising campaign in the college's history raised more than $115 million, with an additional $15 million in federal grants received.
Initiatives developed under Cook's leadership underscore values associated with a healthy participatory democracy: the Allegheny College Center for Experiential Learning, the Center for Economic and Environmental Development, the Center for Political Participation and the college's participation in Project Pericles and the Bonner Leader Program.
Parallel to this emphasis on democratic values has been a commitment to a sustainable economic and environmental future. Cook was one of the first signatories of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a national challenge to colleges and universities to develop a comprehensive action plan to reduce greenhouse gases by becoming more energy- and materials-efficient. Allegheny was the first institution to move forward on the Clinton Climate Initiative, announced in November 2007.
While chair of the board of the 85-member Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, Cook was a driving force behind a project funded by the Lumina Foundation to examine and shape public policy and college practices to ensure accessibility and affordability of higher education for students of modest economic backgrounds.
Cook is an honors graduate of the University of Michigan, with M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in organic chemistry from Princeton University. He began his academic life as a chemistry professor whose specialty was the intersection of science and public policy.
Following work related to the Love Canal hazardous waste depository at Niagara Falls, N.Y., Cook held gubernatorial appointments to the Michigan Toxic Substance Control Commission and later to the Governor's Environmental Science Board. Before assuming the presidency of Allegheny College, he was provost and professor of chemistry at Kalamazoo College, a national liberal arts college in Michigan.
The 32nd oldest college in the nation, Allegheny will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2015.
