CLAS Commencement

Speakers and Honorees

2006 Commencement

Honorary Degree Recipient
Daniel Robert “Bob” Graham

Ceremony Keynote Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipient Daniel Robert “Bob” GrahamUndergraduate Ceremony Keynote Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipient Daniel Robert “Bob” Graham was born on November 9, 1936 in Dade County, Florida, where he grew up on his family’s cattle farm. He started at the University of Florida as a freshman, graduating with high honors in 1959 with a bachelor’s degree inpolitical science. He also earned a degree from Harvard Law School in 1962.
While working in the family business, Senator Graham served 12 years in the Florida Legislature. In 1978, he was elected Governor of Florida and served two terms. In 1986, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and he was re-elected in 1992 and 1998. He retired from public office in early 2005.

As Governor, Graham served as chair of the Education Commission of the States and the Southern Regional Education Board. In 1985, the Chief State School Officers recognized him for his leadership in education. While in the Senate, he served on the Select Senate Committee of Intelligence from 1993 to 2003 and as its chairman in 2001 and 2002.

Since 1974, Senator Graham has taken “workdays” in various occupations and professions, beginning as a high school civics teacher. He has completed more than 400 workdays during his career. For almost 30 years, Senator Graham has carried a pocket-sized spiral notebook with him wherever he goes. He records the details of daily life, including a log of activities, meeting notes, and a list of things to do that day.

Senator Graham has written two books, one about his workdays (published in 1978) and Intelligence Matters, published by Random House in 2004, about his role investigating the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. During the past academic year, Senator Graham has been a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He also is working with UF and the University of Miami to create the Bob Graham Centers that will focus on public leadership, the Americas and homeland security.

The center will have a home thanks to a $5 million gift from UF alumnus Jim Pugh and his wife, Alexis. Senator Graham and Mr. Pugh met at UF as fraternity brothers in Sigma Nu. With anticipated matching state funds, construction on Pugh Hall could start as early as the summer of 2006 and be completed by 2007.

Senator Graham and his wife, Adele Khoury Graham, have four daughters and 11 grandchildren.

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Graduate Ceremony Keynote Speaker
Janie M. Fouke

Janie FoukeJanie M. Fouke, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Florida, completed her liberal arts degree in biology at St. Andrews Presbyterian College and earned graduate degrees in biomedical mathematics and engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She served as dean of the College of Engineering at Michigan State University from 1999 to 2005. Prior to that, she was the inaugural division director of the newly created division of bioengineering and environmental systems with the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C.

From 1981 to 1999, Dr. Fouke rose through the faculty ranks in the department of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland with teaching and research interests in medical instrument design and development. Instrumentation that she has built has been critical to the understanding of the etiology of airway diseases, such as asthma and the pulmonary effects of environmental pollutants.

Dr. Fouke has published roughly 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and conference papers and a dozen book chapters, editorials, and proprietary reports. Her 2000 book, Engineering Tomorrow, received numerous awards including The Dexter Prize, given annually by the Society for the History of Technology for the single best book published during the preceding three years.

She currently serves on advisory boards for several universities, the Engineering Directorate at NSF, and the National Institute of Bioimaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health. She also served two terms as president of the IEEE/Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, the largest professional society of bioengineers in the world.

Dr. Fouke is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Biomedical Engineering Society.

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Retiring Faculty

The following faculty members are retiring this year:

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Commencement Marshals

Chief Commencement Marshals & Readers
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