Cornell President Hunter Rawlings will preside over the university's 129th Commencement on Sunday, May 25, at 11 a.m. on Schoellkopf Field.

Rawlings will confer degrees on almost 6,000 eligible graduates, capping two days of celebratory activities that include a Senior Convocation with an address by television personality Bertice Berry on Saturday, May 24, at noon in Barton Hall.

Giving and achievement characterize the Class of 1997. Members of this class set new records in the number of donors, duespayers and participation rate for the Senior Class Campaign. Forty-seven percent of the class, more than 1,600 graduates, donated $27,628, of which $18,519 will establish the Class of '97 Scholarship Fund.

Twelve seniors who have been honored for their community service efforts will use their monetary awards to benefit others. These Cornell Tradition Fellows have earned $2,500 Senior Recognition Awards, which they have donated to nonprofit agencies or used to establish one-year fellowships. This year, six students set up fellowships with their awards; one is using hers to purchase hydroelectric power for a rural community in the Dominican Republic, and others are helping needed services like Ithaca's Loaves and Fishes. Since the Senior Recognition Awards program began in 1989, Cornell students have supported human services agencies, fellow students and others with $225,000 in gifts.

Other members of the graduating class have been involved in hundreds of hours of community service through Cornell's Public Service Center.

In addition to giving, the Class of 1997 is distinguished by the number of prestigious honors awarded to its members: two Rhodes Scholarships, three Marshall Scholarships, a Winston Churchill Foundation Scholarship and a Keasbey Scholarship.

Heading to Oxford University this fall as Rhodes Scholars will be Jonathan Levine, a physics major from Merion Station, Pa., and Jessika Trancik of Ithaca, who majored in materials science and engineering. Also going to Oxford will be Marshall Scholar Rafael Cox, a College Scholar from Puerto Rico, and Keasbey Scholar Andrew T. Chrisomalis, a College Scholar from Oradell, N.J., one of only four Americans to receive the Keasbey fellowship this year. Levine and Trancik also received Marshall Scholarships; these three awards were the second highest number of Marshall Scholarships received at an American university this year.

Churchill Scholar Jakob Begun will attend Cambridge University this fall to study and do research in X-ray crystallography. This biochemistry major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is from Wantagh, N.Y.

Commencement weekend events include:

Saturday, May 24:

President's Breakfast Reception: The Board of Trustees and President and Mrs. Rawlings will honor graduates and their families at a breakfast reception on the Arts Quad from 7:30 to 9 a.m.

Senior Convocation: To be held in Barton Hall at noon, the Convocation to honor graduates and their families will feature an address by Bertice Berry. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Kent State University and has hosted a nationally syndicated television talk show, "The Bertice Berry Show," on the Fox television network. She has made hundreds of appearances on college campuses, presenting lectures mixing inspirational and motivational advice with humor while addressing serious subjects such as racism and sexism.

Also speaking at the Convocation will be Senior Class President Jennifer Savary.

ROTC Commissioning: The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) Brigade will commission officers into the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force during a ceremony in David L. Call Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy Hall, at 4 p.m. Provost Don M. Randel will speak.

D.V.M. Hooding Ceremony: Dean Donald Smith will address graduates at the ceremony in Alice Statler Auditorium at 4:30 p.m. Also speaking will be John E. Saidla, director of veterinary continuing education, and graduating student Michael Gorra. The Veterinarian's Oath for new doctors of veterinary medicine will be administered by Bruce Campbell, president-elect of the New York State Veterinary Medical Society.

Ph.D. Recognition Ceremony: Recipients of doctoral degrees will be individually honored by Rawlings and the Cornell Board of Trustees for their significant academic achievements in Barton Hall at 5 p.m. Rawlings and Walter I. Cohen, Graduate School dean, will congratulate each recipient. Degrees will be conferred during the general Commencement ceremony on Sunday.

Other special events for graduates and their families on Saturday include tours of Cornell Plantations from 10 a.m. to noon, a Cornell Wind Ensemble concert on the Arts Quad at 3 p.m. and the Senior Week Concert by the Glee Club and Chorus in Bailey Hall at 8:15 p.m.

Sunday, May 25

Baccalaureate Service: The Rev. Dr. J. Bryan Hehir of the Harvard Center for International Affairs and Harvard Divinity School will present an address at the service in Bailey Hall at 8:30 a.m. Music will be provided by the Cornell Glee Club, Chorus and Wind Ensemble.

Commencement Procession: Thousands of robed students, faculty, trustees and administrators will assemble on the Arts Quad at 9:30 a.m. and proceed to Schoellkopf Field. Leading the academic procession will be University Marshal J. Robert Cooke, professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and Mace Bearer John L. Ford, the Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley Dean of Students.

Commencement Ceremony: The ceremony will take place on Schoellkopf Field from 11 a.m. to noon. After presenting the Commencement address, Rawlings will confer degrees on approximately 6,000 eligible candidates, including those who completed degree work last August and January.

Approximately 4,200 students are eligible for undergraduate degrees, including 977 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, close to 100 in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, 1,100 in the College of Arts and Sciences, 650 in the College of Engineering, 225 in the School of Hotel Administration, 375 in the College of Human Ecology and 210 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Receiving master's and doctoral degrees will be approximately 2,400 students, including about 1,800 from the Graduate School, 238 from the Law School, 275 from the Johnson Graduate School of Management and 80 from the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Broadcast: The ceremony will be broadcast live with David I. Stewart, director of community relations, announcing on Ithaca cable television station Channel 54 beginning at 10 a.m. and on Ithaca radio station WHCU (870 AM) beginning at 11 a.m. The ceremony will be shown on closed-circuit television in Statler Auditorium, the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium in Kennedy Hall, Martha Van Rensselaer Auditorium and the Field House.

Severe weather: In the event of severe weather, Commencement will be celebrated in two ceremonies in Barton Hall: at 10:30 a.m. for students from Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences, the Johnson Graduate School of Management and Veterinary Medicine, and at 1 p.m. for students from Architecture, Art and Planning, Engineering, Graduate School, Hotel Administration, Human Ecology and Industrial and Labor Relations.

Roads: Central campus roads will be closed on Commencement morning between 8 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Cornell and Ithaca City Police will direct traffic. Signs directing motorists to parking areas will be posted. The campus buses will be running specific routes from the outer parking areas to the stadium. Additional information will be broadcast on Cornell Info Radio at 530 AM.