Calvin College will hold Commencement cermonies on Saturday, May 23 at 3 p.m. in the Calvin College Fieldhouse. Approximately 780 students will receive diplomas at the ceremony. They will listen to 1998 Commencement speaker Dr. Lewis Smedes, Professor Emeritus of Theology and Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary and a graduate of both Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary. They also will watch Calvin's highest alumni honor -- the Distinguished Alumni Award (given annually since 1966) -- presented to Dr. Calvin DeWitt and the Reverend Anthony Van Zanten (see bios below).

The Saturday cermony will culminate a week of Commencement activities. On Friday, May 22 the school will host a Worship Service of thanksgiving and celebration at 5:30 pm in the Chapel. Following that service, from 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., there will be an outdoor Commencement Picnic. The rain location will be the Knollcrest Dining Hall. That night there will be a Commencement Concert at 8 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center. There also will be an Education Department Teacher Certificate Ceremony at 8 p.m. in the Chapel for Calvin's recently reaccredited teacher education program. Saturday will begin with a 9 a.m. Senior Breakfast in the Commons Dining Hall. Commencement rehearsal will begin at 11 a.m. in the Fieldhouse. And then the real deal kicks off at 3 p.m. Following Commencement, at 4:30 p.m., there will be a variety of receptions on the Commons Lawn.

The Calvin Commencement Hotline can be reached at 957-8615. Or go to the official Commencement page.

BRIEF BIOS OF 1998 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS

DeWitt, a 1957 graduate of Calvin, teaches environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin and is summer director of the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies at Mancelona, Michigan. He has a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Michigan and is widely regarded as the nation's foremost Christian environmentalist. He is one of the founders of the Evangelical Environmental Network, a group of Evangelical Christians who are sponsoring a nation-wide drive to protest endangered species and restore the environment. He received national attention in 1996 when he said that the Endangered Species Act was "the Noah's Ark of our day" and that "Congress and special interests are trying to sink it." He led a fight that helped save that Endangered Species Act.

Van Zanten, a 1961 graduate of Calvin, did an internship in Central Harlem in 1963-64 while a student at Union Theological Seminary in New York. His heart has been with the inner city ever since. In 1976 he began working for Roseland Christian Ministries in Chicago, Illinois, where he now serves as director, heading up such programs as a shelter and a drop-in center in one of Chicago's poorest areas, while also pastoring his predominantly black congregation at Roseland Christian Reformed Church. At times he questions why a farm boy from Iowa has worked so long in such a setting, but then he sees some small miracle that reminds him why Roseland is exactly where he needs to be. One nomination letter said simply of Van Zanten: "Rev. Tony has surely shown me that love knows no color, loves knows no class, and that love certainly knows no limitations."

NOTE: Commencement 98 will be available live on Calvin's internet site via RealAudio. Go to the Commencement page for live coverage on May 23.