Graduates move tassles at completion of commencement ceremony. (Photo/Patrick Kelly)

Live Commencement Webcast
The spring commencement ceremony will be broadcast live on the Web this Friday, May 12. The commencement speaker is Richard S. Fuld, Jr., CU-Boulder alumnus and chairman of the Board of Directors of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. To view the ceremony, visit Colorado Buffs Live Events beginning at 8 a.m. on May 12.

Mary Rippon to be Honored at Commencement
The university will grant a posthumous honorary degree to Mary Rippon, CU's third faculty member and first female professor, at the May commencement ceremony. Rippon taught at CU from 1878 to 1909. Her great grandson, Eric Rieder, will accept the diploma on her behalf. For more information on Mary Rippon visit http://www.cualum.org/heritage/virtual_tour/mary_rippon.html

CU's First Graduating Class
The first class to graduate from CU-Boulder consisted of six men ranging from ages 21 to 25. The group graduated on Thursday, June 8, 1882 and immediately met the next day to organize the University of Colorado Alumni Association. In an unsuccessful prank, the group attempted to convince Boulder citizens that Old Main was on fire. They hauled firewood as a punishment for blackening the field surrounding the building.

Dean Jim Williams lowers the University Mace during Commencement, April 2004 (Photo/Casey A. Cass)

University Mace
The traditional academic mace stems from the fourteenth century practice of combining a royal scepter and a battle mace to symbolize the authority of the rector of a university. CU-Boulder's mace was created for the 1984 commencement exercises. It was carved from a black walnut tree said to have come from saplings given to Colorado Territory settlers from President Abraham Lincoln. The university marshal carries the mace during commencements, inaugurations and convocations.