The 135th Commencement of the University of Illinois - Thomas M. Siebel

Transcript

So That's a lot of nothing. Okay. Okay, here we go. Well, good afternoon. Thank you, Denise, and welcome to our live broadcast of the afternoon ceremonies of this

the 135th commencement of the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. I am Jay Pierce at his candidates for degrees in University Dignitaries file into assembly hall to the accompaniments of the U of I symphonic band under the direction of Thomas Caniva. We'll highlight the agenda for this afternoon's events. First, I want to thank Rick Bigler, our onsite engineer, Dak Krow, back in master control at WYL Radio. Chancellor Richard Herman, of course, will preside over this afternoon's events. The audience will participate in the singing of the star-spangled banner once the commencement procession is complete. We'll hear greetings from the Board of Trustees delivered by Trustee David Doris, greetings from University President B. Joseph White, greetings from the Alumni Association. And we'll hear a presentation of the Board of Trustees Distinguished Service Medallion to President Curtis James Stuckel, the conferring of honorary degrees to Bert Routin and Tom Siebel, who

was also today's keynote speaker. We'll also hear then the commencement address by Tom Siebel, then the conferring of degrees, first graduates and professional, then the undergraduate degrees, along with recognition of bronze tablet scholars and ROTC candidates. A little about the honorary degree recipients, and we should mention that at this morning's ceremony, there are two ceremonies to accommodate everyone on this campus. This morning, the honorary degrees were conferred to end up at ACP Chairman Julian Bond, and cell researcher Elaine Fuchs, as well as Tom Siebel, will have more about Tom Siebel in a moment when we detail his biography as the commencement speaker. But a couple of words about Bert Routin, who will be receiving one of the honorary degrees

and engineering this afternoon. He's an American aerospace engineer, noted for originality and designing light, strong, unusual looking, energy-efficient aircraft. He's most famous perhaps for his design of the record-breaking Voyager, the first plane to fly around the world without stopping for refueling, and the suborbital rocket plane Spaceship 1. A bit about our commencement speaker, Tom Siebel, who is founder and former chairman CEO of Siebel Systems Incorporated. He earned three degrees from the Urbana campus, a bachelor in history, a master's in business administration, and a master's in computer science, and was recognized by Business Week in 2001 as one of the top 25 managers in the world. He was presented with the U of I presidential award in Medallion in 2001, a corporate gift from Siebel Systems in 2000 established the Siebel Scholars Fellowship Program,

the nation's top 11 computer science in Businesses College, Business Colleges Benefit, and that includes the computer science department at the U of I, Urbana campus. In 1999, Siebel donated 32 million dollars to the Urbana campus to help construct the Thomas M. Siebel Center for computing science at 225,000 square foot center that unites the faculty, researchers, graduate, and undergraduate students in the department of computer science under one roof for the first time. Also this afternoon, recognition will be given to several individuals during the presentation of the Alumni Association Awards, the Distinguished Service Award, goes to Robert and Alice Campbell, who among other things, funded our home, Campbell Hall for Public Telecommunication, helped raise funds for the new bells and outgeld hall, and were lead donors

for the Alice Campbell Alumni Center for which the ribbon was cut just this past Friday. They also provided the lead gift for the Michael Aiken Endowed Chair, created the Alice Curtis Campbell Endowed Chair at the College of Law, and supported the Matthews Scholars Program. Mr. Campbell received a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University. Mrs. Campbell learned a Juris Doctor degree from the College of Law at University of Illinois. Roger Ebert was presented the Alumni Achievement Award during his recent overlooked film festival, held in Urbana and Champaign. He received a Journalism degree from the U of I in 1964. The Humanitarian Award will go to the Honorable Eugene Hamilton, retired Chief Judge of the Superior Court District of Columbia. Known as the People's Judge, Hamilton has worked extensively to address issues of domestic violence and juvenile drug abuse, he received his Law degree from the University in 1959.

Achievement Awards also recognize molecular biologist Susan Linquist, who earned a Bachelor's degree in microbiology in 1971 from U of I, and went on to become the Director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the first woman to hold that position. She specializes in aspects of inheritance of cystic fibrosis and Alzheimer's disease. It also diplomat John W. McDonald, who received a Law degree in 1946 from U of I College of Law, and is held a number of diplomatic positions, including under President Reagan and Carter. Currently, he is chairman and co-founder of the Institute for Multitrack Diplomacy, which focuses on resolving national and international ethnic conflicts. The college is participating in this afternoon's ceremony, the College of Agriculture,

Consumer and Environmental Sciences, College of Business, College of Education, College of Engineering, and the College of Fine and Applied Arts. The degrees were conferred for candidates this morning in the College of Applied Life Sciences, College of Communications, College of Law, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences, Institute of Aviation, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, and the School of Social Work. And again, two ceremonies are held in order to accommodate all of the candidates and their guests, ten, thirty in the morning, two o'clock in the afternoon at Assembly Hall. You're listening to this live broadcast on WILL, 580 AM, and also on the World Wide Web at will.uoc.edu. Well, the procession is continuing, and let's listen to with honor crowned bits of the performance from the symphonic band under the direction of Thomas Caniva.

And then you'll hear the voice of Chancellor Richard Herman, as he presides over today's commencement ceremony. Music Music Music

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Transcript

Transcript

Program: The 135th Commencement of the University of Illinois - Thomas M. Siebel

Contributing Organization: WILL Illinois Public Media (Urbana, Illinois)

AAPB ID: cpb-aacip/16-13zs7n08

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AAPB Contributor Holdings: Illinois Public Media (WILL)
Identifier: will_special_060514_siebel_dat (Illinois Public Media)
Format: DAT
Generation: Master
Duration: 02:00:00

Citations: Chicago: “The 135th Commencement of the University of Illinois - Thomas M. Siebel,” WILL Illinois Public Media, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 13, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-16-13zs7n08.; MLA: “The 135th Commencement of the University of Illinois - Thomas M. Siebel.” WILL Illinois Public Media, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 13, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-16-13zs7n08>.; APA: The 135th Commencement of the University of Illinois - Thomas M. Siebel. Boston, MA: WILL Illinois Public Media, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-16-13zs7n08