Brown University's 238th commencement is a mixture of practiced ceremony and lighthearted fun.

01:00 AM EDT on Monday, May 29, 2006

BY ALEX KUFFNER
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- As the first members of Brown University's Class of 2006 walked through the imposing Van Wickle Gates onto Prospect Street yesterday, a collective cheer rose up from the crowd standing four-, five- and six-people deep on either side.

The 2,245 graduate and undergraduate students marched down College Hill, waving to their parents, stopping for congratulatory hugs and posing for snapshots with friends.

They passed by hundreds of men and women who had graduated before them and now lined the route of the mile-long procession.

The alumni -- members of the classes of '36, '61, '76, '96 and other years -- held up earnest signs for the graduates to see.

"BROWN IS FOREVER."

"THINK CRITICALLY."

"KEEP READING."

Well, not all were so serious.

"ACTIVE ALUMNI ARE COOL LOVERS."

Brown University's 238th commencement was a mixture of practiced ceremony and lighthearted fun. For every measured reading in Latin by university President Ruth J. Simmons, there were moments when the graduates simply couldn't contain themselves.

On a cloudless day, when the only umbrellas to be seen were used to block out the sun, they skipped along the procession, strolled in flip-flops arm-in-arm or wore bright flowers draped over their black mortarboards.

When they reached Benefit Street, the various schools split up. Led by a single drummer, the 89 graduates of the medical school were led into the First Unitarian Church, where their friends and relatives packed the pews.

Inside, they listened to a stirring speech delivered by Geoffrey Canada, president and chief executive officer of the Harlem Children's Zone, a nonprofit organization that provides educational, social and medical services to thousands of needy children in New York City.

Canada, who Simmons described as "one of the best friends children have" when he received an honorary doctorate later in the day, has led the organization since 1990 and has helped set up community centers, a family support center and an asthma prevention initiative in Harlem that has drawn national attention.

He grew up poor in the South Bronx, and in his talk, he described the almost unbearable weight of poverty, violence and health problems that the underprivileged must carry.

"When this weight comes down, you will not be under it," he told the members of the medical school's 32nd graduating class. "You have been guaranteed by your education not to be under it. My question to you is: do you care about those who cannot make it without your help?"

He challenged the graduates to use their skills and knowledge in the interest of social justice, entreating them to "come join our team. We're losing."

To a standing ovation, he told the prospective doctors that they have the ability to keep hope alive.

"We may not win this fight, but as long as you are still here, we will never stop fighting," he said.

Just as Canada's speech was ending, the undergraduates in the college gathered on the lawn of the First Baptist Church in America. Portions of Brown's commencement have been held inside the church on all but two occasions since 1776.

Yesterday, however, because of the large size of the senior class -- about 1,600 students -- and stiffer fire-code regulations, the graduates remained outside the historic church for what was largely a symbolic ceremony.

Graduate Priya Ann Chalam gave a spirited rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner," joined on the final verses by her classmates in a spontaneous show of support.

Then, in a call-and-answer that seemed to belong at a football game, Simmons chanted "0-6" three times and the graduates echoed her, louder and louder each time.

Unlike past years, they didn't stay at the church for the remainder of the ceremony. Instead, they walked back up the hill to the College Green at the center of campus.

There, Ari Shavitzky and Greta Pemberton, both members of the senior class, gave speeches to the entire university.

Pemberton, of Silver Spring, Md., urged the graduates to value intellectual and spiritual play in their professional lives, to wrestle with ideas simply for the fun of it, rather than in the interest of a goal.

"Play isn't frivolous," she said. "It's sustenance."

Afterward, former U.S. Sen. Claiborne D. Pell received the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal of Honor, the highest award given by the Brown faculty and one that had been handed out only 24 times previously since its creation in 1919.

Pell was the 25th to be honored. He sat on stage in a wheelchair and waved gently to the graduates as his name was announced.

Then he listened as chair of the faculty Robert Pelcovits, a professor of physics, extolled the 87-year-old statesman for a record in Congress in support of education that included the creation of the grant program that bears his name.

"You are an American hero of the highest order," Pelcovits said.

Commencement drew to a close just as it began at the Van Wickle Gates, with the Class of 2006 at the center of attention.

Simmons put into words what the parents, friends and relatives must have felt as she addressed the graduates one final time.

"We salute you, we congratulate you, and we are proud of you," she said.

The local graduates are:

Bachelor of Arts

Andrew S. Allegretti

Laura B. Almeida

James R. Baker

Ariana Balestrieri

Jeremy P. E. Bearer-Friend*

Pieter A. Biersteker

Diane B. Burke

Amy L. Caldamone

Lisa M. Castellanos

Jessica L. Cook

Vincent D. Criscione*

Stephen A. Crocker

Shawn P. Cully

Merebea M. Danforth

Jared B. Davis

Eric A. Dennison

Tarra B. Evans

Lauren E. Ferretti

Scott D. Fortin

Craig K. Fountain

Hanae Fujii-Rios

Tiffany M. Galvao

Stefan M. Gislason

Benjamin Goddard

Samantha Gorman

Eliana S. Gutman

William G. Hedberg

Elizabeth L. Henthorne

Washington Irving

Michaella F. Jamiel

Jamie R. Johnson

Xaykham R. Khamsyvoravong

Daniel J. Kingman

Casey Koppelson

Tatiana L. Kuzmowycz

Francelle N. Kwankam

Jennifer L. Lambe*

Jason V. Lambrese

Matthew J. B. Lawrence*

Juhyung H. Lee

Abigail B. Littlefield

Christopher A. Lowrey*

Joanna V. Maclean

Jacquelyn A. Mancini

Christine D. Massie

Sarah B. McBratney

Jenny Moniz

Evan H. Mullaney

Evelyn E. Ng Duran

Alexandra Ocampo

Luis Almando Pagan +

Jennifer C. Paolino

Nicole M. Pereira

Candas Pinar*

Stephanie B. Pincince

Robert A. Powers

David J. Reidy

Nadia R. Rollins

Katherine M. Rose

Fillip F. Saraiva

Joyce S. Satgunam

Ari J. Savitzky

Katherine A. Schrire

Jenna G. Sciuto

Meredith L. Sondler-Bazar

Alice A. Sorensen

Christian P. Sorensen

Emily S. S. Stopa*

Kyle J. Tracey

Tatyana K. Tsangarakis-Almeida

Ann M. Tubridy

Hans P. van Lancker

Kate M. Veronneau

Yale Wang

Bachelor of Science

Vivian A. Asare

April T. Atiba

Alison J. Barker

Ansu C. Baysah

Michael J. Black

Jane A. Casey*

Kristin L. Conaty*

Ricardo A. Galvao

Juliane C. Kellner

Nataniel H. Lester-Coll

Laura J. Martin

Benjamin S. Pitt

Sarah L. Rose

Evan A. Russell

Sarah E. Taylor

Trung C. Truong

Aazam Vahdatshoar

Ling Mei Wong

Yifan Zheng*

Master of Arts

Carrie L. Alexandrowicz

Jin Suk Bae

Damon Baker

Meaghan E. Banks

Joseph J. Barron

Caitlin R. Bass

Kelly E. Bay

David N. Ben-Merre

David Bering-Porter

Gavril K. Bilev

Daniel R. Block

Mell C. Bolen

Erica N. Boyd

Brian D. Brewer

Todd A. Bridges

Selena L. Brown

Michael C. Bruce

Melissa C. Burling

Justin M. Buszin

Elizabeth A. Campbell

James D. Campbell

Francisco C. Ortiz

Heike E. Cannon

Russell C. Carey

Eva M. Cieloszyk

Melis Ciner

Heather A. Coffey

Adam Colman

Jason S. Cordes

Alexandre Y. Derevianko

Thomas C. Devaney

Eric S. Doescher

Mila Dragojevic

Julia A. Drew

Kristi A. Eastin

Stephanie G. Elson

Juntyma J. Engtrakul

Ana M. F. Esteves

Leo Feler

Paul N. Flynn

Benjamin D. Freitas

Eric P. Gamage

Daniele Gazzola

Martin R. Goetz

Julia R. Gordon

Lacey E. Gray

Joseph A. Grimm

Angela L. Hackel

Pauline R. Hall

Hillary Han

Ghenwa Hayek

Divya R. Heffley

Sarah M. Hirschman

Jane H. Hong

Melissa A. Jacoby

Di Jiang

Chase C. Johannsen

Jessica A. Johnson

Maya D. Judd

Sohei Kaihatsu

Yusuke Kamishiro

Danielle Kantor

Se-Um Kim

Gabriel L. Kleiman

Vanitha Krishna

Loeun B. Lay

Jeannette M. E. Lee

Sara J. Leone

Amy M. Lerner

Alexey Levkov

Jeffrey S. Lizano

Leslie G. Lorello

Mireya Loza

Farhod A. Maksudov

Michelle C. Manning

Amy B. Marshall

Andrew P. Matheny

Andrea C. Mazzarino

Julia M. Mccombs

Maliss Men

Cassandra L. Mesick

Heather L. Milbury

Kathleen M. Millar

Kevin M. Morris

Diane M. Nadeau

Robert P. Newcomb

Alasdair P. S. Noble

Emily J. O'Dell

Christine E. Oborski

Feryaz Ocakli

Ko Woon Oh

Omer Ozak Munoz

Christos Pargianas

Erin M. Parker

Heather A. Parker

Thomas D. Parker

Ravi K. Perry

Christopher W. Peterson

Daniel C. Piper

Roland Pongou

Md. Momotazur Rahman

Laurel G. Rayburn

Guilherme T. Ribeiro

Jonathan Roberts

Medardo G. Rosario Rivera

Julie L. Russo

Timothy F. Ryder

Jeanne-Nicole Saint-Laurent

Felicia I. Salinas

Mustafa Samdani

Shiri B. Sandler

Carmen P. Saucedo

Suzanne M. Scanlan

Martin Scheffel

John F. Sheehan III

Mario J. Sifuentez II

Hannah J. Sikorski

Caitlin E. Slodden

Angela M. Smith

Justin S. Solonick

Jennifer A. Soroko

Christine N. Southworth

William Space

Margaret M. Stevens

Amanda Stockton

Layning Sun

Cheng-Tao Tang

Jasmine Kar Tang

Gregory C. Thompson

Nam Thanh Tran

Mary S. Wallace

Carina S. Wallance

Chieh-Mei J. Wang

Adam C. Wienert

Joshua K. Wilde

Jennifer A. Winton

Kyung Hee Youn

Ivana Zuliani

Yori Zwols

Master of Arts in Teaching

Marc D. Alongi

Michaela N. Andrews

Katherine J. S. Bacuyag

Alexander L. Barron

Rachel N. Bello

Shay A. Bernius

Annette Brito-Proeschold

Lauren H. Dehart

Carmen J. Espinal

Jennifer M. Fordyce

Sofia M. Gluck

Jennifer M. Golenia

Allyson W. Goose

Benjamin B. Johnson

Adria E. Karlsson

Abbey N. Kerins

Angela W. Koine

David Krakow

Sarah R. Leibel

Vivienne C. Lochhead

Lynn S. Lotierzo

Terence P. McNulty

David J. Mercante

Jenny W. Morse

Deirdre A. Negrini

Graham A. O'Halloran

Zoe J. Owers

Yasmin A. Pena Rodriguez

Wendy J. Phillips

Rebecca M. Reilly

Siobhan A. Sheerar

John B. Somers

Benjamin H. Spencer

Bailey C. Thaxton

Emily C. Traver

Thea Van Buren

Shauna L. Young

Master of Fine Arts

Samara Abrams-Primack

Jessie D. Austrian

Justin W. Blanchard

Lucy Boyle

Andrew M. Bragen

Louis Changchien

Christina A. L. Chilip

Paul Coffey

Jessica G. Crandall

Heath A. Cullens

Ricky E. Dildine Jr.

Michael T. Edgerton

Robin B. Fergusson

Elizabeth M. Hallaren

Brian Houtz

Jordan E. Kaplan

Sarah N. Madsen

Samuel W. Marks

Bryson C. Newhart

Jenny L. Nichols

Meagan M. Prahl

Molly Rice

Matthew L. Robinson

Kate Schapira

Brian K. Stefans

Bronwen R. Tate

Holly R. Tavel

Alexander J. Torra

Caroline N. Whitbeck

Zisheng Kevin Wu

Lynn Z. Xu

Master of Medical Science

Andrew H. Beck

Dina Y. Gewaily

Jared R. Jagdeo

Master of Public Affairs

Bryan M. Joffe

Wen-Yi Lin

Victoria T. Mazgalev

Lori A. Potter

Simon W. Radford

Suzan L. Renaud

Master of Public Health

Amanda M. Adams

Kamil E. Barbour

Meredith R. Bergey

David B. Bouslough

Dana Cernigliaro

Jan E. Cooper

Emily A. Elstad

Elizabeth A. Forbes

Leanne Fournier

Emily C. Harrison

Tasha M. Hughes

Alan D. Krinsky

Sameer K. Kumta

Kristen A. Matteson

Priya Mital

Nimisha M. Parikh

Joo-Hee Grace Park

Ramona L. Rhodes

Vivian W. Sung

Portia E. Thurmond

Karine R. P. Tolentino

Rachael S. Truchil

Master of Science

Michael C. Abbott

Parul Aneja

Ines V. Aniceto

Salil R. Apte

Daniel Benjamin

Jishnu Bhattacharyya

Andrew P. Birck

Constant B. Bissahoyo

Lydia L. Boroughs

Derek D. Boucher

Elizabeth W. Boyd

Kristin M. Boyle

Farren B. Shaw Briggs

Lutfiye Bulut

William J. Cabral

Marcelo S. Caetano

Shan Che

Adam E. Chmielewski

Kyu-Wook Cho

Sehun Chun

Paul A. Danckwerth

Cuong H. Dang

Elizabeth S. Deweerd

Socrates Dimitriadis

Nevzat O. Domanic

Ibrahim Eden

Charles C. Erway

Jessica A. Fisher

Gillian L. Galford

Tingjian Ge

Daniel S. Gentner

Vinaypreet S. Gill

Selim Gokay

Beth D. Goldstein

Suraj P. Gorkhali

Clarke J. Gradinger

Demetrious M. Harrington

Timothy L. Hartman

Yiping He

William P. Headden III

Juzhi Hou

Leah E. A. Hutchison

Shrivaths R. Iyengar

Hongyuan Jiang

Lisa Yuki Jog

Chrysostomos D. Kalousios

Lisa C. Kanner

Anat Kaspi

Eric E. Keaveny

Suamporn Ketpreechasawat

Rachel L. P. Klima

Andreas Kloeckner

Abhishek K. Kothari

Georgios Koutroulakis

Michael T. Lamar

Allison A. Lee

Donghoon Lee

Ethan F. Leland

Dmitri K. Lemmerman

Joseph S. Levy

Hua Li

Lei Li

Constanze Dong-Li Liaw

Yuan Lin

Yun Ling

Xian Luo

Jing Ma

Jason J. Mallios

David J. Mcclosky

Nikhil Medhekar

Lisa R. Nelson

Jonathan E. Nichols

Austin S. Park

Subodh P. Patil

Cengiz Pehlevan

Jing Peng

Luke Chun Chieh Peng

Igor V. Pivkin

Michael T. Pozar

Yisoo Pyon

Eric E. Rachlin

Wenqing Ren

Carlos E. Rincon

Shubho R. Roy

Eric R. Ruggieri

Johnny Saucedo

Elyse Scileppi

David E. Shean

Derek S. Snyder

Srikanth V. Srigiriraju

Vladimir Stojanovic

Ye Sun

Marshall I. Sundberg

Desta Tadesse

Dhananjay T. Tambe

Ronald H. Tse

Charis Tsikkou

Henning A. Ulfarsson

Adam L. Waaramaa

Eugene Wan

Wei Wang

Tyler S. Wilson

Pawel P. Wrotek

Kuiwang Wu

Liang Wu

Yanchun Wu

Peter M. Yee

Zohar R. Zephrani

Wei Zhang

Doctor of Philosophy

Artur B. Adib

Sumit Agarwal

Andrew H. Altieri

Pallavi A. Alur

Ichiro Amimori

Aristidis S. Anagnostopoulos

Britt Anderson

Anastasia V. Anishchenko

Mohammad Arzaghi

Michael J. Attisha

David B. Baier

Jerel A. Banks

Nadezhda V. Baryshnikova

Stephanie A. Beall

Gaelan L. Benway

Sidharth Bhatia

Charlotte A. Biltekoff

Bethany A. Bradley

Heidi M. Brevik-Zender

Alina I. Bucur

Christopher W. Bull

Amanda C. Burdan

Josef S. L. Cagle

Andrew C. Callan-Jones

Jennifer F. Carr

Andrew J. Castiglioni

Mee Jin Cho

Ching-Shan Chou

Constance J. Chu

Sylvain G. Cloutier

Nicola D. Costanzino

Caitlin M. Crain

Sera Cremonini

Maryhelen D'Ottavi

Kristina M. Davitt

Joost J. De Laat

Massimiliano Di Luca

Meadow Dibble-Dieng

Aimee M. Dufresne

Jonna K. Eagle

Amal A. El Moghraby

Derek J. Ettinger

Tai Hee Eun

Amara E. Ezeamama

Jennifer J. Feather

Jiren Feng

Jeremy I. Fisher

Jennifer L. Fitzgerald

Joseph H. Fontaine

Mikhail Y. Frenkel

David A. Fullerton

Lei Gao

Dmitriy Genzel

Jaimie L. Gosselin

Annette C. Gray

Karine Guevorkian

Isil Guney

Minh Ha Quang

Jonna L. Hamilton

Samir M. A. Hammami

Christin L. Hancock

Walter E. Harper Jr.

Alisa L. Hartz

Allan J. Hazlett

Yiping He

Regine I. Heberlein

Heinrich S. Hock

Aaron D. Hoffman

Kirsten L. Hokeness

Diana M. Horrigan

Andrew J. Hunter

Vera M. Hur

Won-Ki Hwang

Seiro Ito

Stanimir S. Ivanov

Robert W. Jacob

Kengqing Jian

Yongbin Jiang

Ya Jin

Wendy A. Jobling

Sung J. Jun

Alex Kanevsky

Ilyana Karthas

Shannon R. Kenney

Sofya Khagi

Ann Hyun-Yeung Kim

Hak Rim Kim

Jaiseung Kim

Veronica M. Kitchen

Harsh Kumar

Chun-Chia Kung

Melissa T. Labonte

Kira T. Lawrence

Sonia M. Leach

Mariana Leguia

Mara A. Leichtman

Jacob M. Leland

Nathaniel B. Levtow

Raymond A. Lewis

Jae Hoon Lim

Kyung-Taek Lim

Julie C. Lima

Cheng-Hang Liu

Jennifer R. Louten

Adrienne M. Lucas

Laura B. Lurati

Mokshay M. Madiman

Brian M. Mayer

Jermaine O. Mccalpin

Morgan S. Mcguire

Daniel Mejia

Guoxing Miao

Ralph E. Milliken

Hamutal Moreshet

Zachary T. Morgan

Lawrence R. Mulcahy

Bret E. Mulligan

Jeffrey P. Mumm

Elisa Munoz-Franco

Shaun P. Murphy

Emily B. Myers

Jong-Yoon Myung

Asha Nadkarni

Leigh A. Needleman

Christian P. Nixon

Caroline M. Nordlund

Lilian O'Brien

Daniel E. Orenstein

Anand Padmanabhan

Monica T. Pelaez

Pedro S. Pereira

Yari P. Marin

Kristen K. Peterson

Gregory C. Pingree

Igor V. Pivkin

Spencer A. Pope

Shankar K. Prasad

William M. Querbes

Reza J. Rasoulpour

Thomas C. Redd

Jeffrey A. Reingold

Karen K. Resendes

Peter Romaniuk

Shelly Rosenblum

James O. Ross

Micah T. Ross

Elizabeth P. Roth

Tracy L. Rupp

Veronika Ryjik

Roshan Samtani

Paul V. Santacroce

Steven J. Seegel

Radislav Sendersky

Steven C.K. Seow

Ali D. Sezer

Michael Hsien-Yun Shaw

Carla A. Simonini

Narendra P. Singh

Zachary Sitter

Lorena D. Soares

Huiyuan Song

Matthew E. Sousa

Christopher M. Sprout

Karen B. Stern

Ye Sun

Vasileios Symeonidis

Fumiko Tamura

Stephen M. Taubenfeld

Aaron B. Taylor

Carla S. Tengan

Anne E. Thomas

Bradley J. Thomson

Antonio L. D. Tosta

John E. Turri Jr.

Martijn N. P. Van Hasselt

Sowmya Venkataramani

Jorge Viamontes

Amy N. Vines

Benjamin C. Walter

Guohua Wang

Hyoung G. Wang

Jigang Wang

Lei Wang

Noah G. Wardrip-Fruin

Daniel E. Warren

Gary S. Watson

Carrie Watterson

Jonathan R. Whitlock

Brett D. Wick

Patricia Widener

Susanne B. Wiedemann

Lucas C. Wilcox

Graeme Wilkin

James A. Williams

Andreas I. Woods

Amy E. Wright

Jian Xie

Ying Xing

Yulong Xing

Yingjie Yang

Chunhua Yao

Sarah E. Yeh

Vanessa Yin-Fong Yong

Olga Yoshizumi

Ling Yuan

Toby J. Zaleski

Peter J. Zannitto

Zhizhou Zhang

Eugenia A. Zuroski

Doctor of Medicine

Paul C. Alleyne

Myron Allukian

Alexander S. Amby

Kathy M. Anderson

Hannah I. Awai

Jerel A. Banks

Alka Basil

Stephanie A. Beall

Robert D. Becher

Andrew H. Beck

Adam D. Bier

Vanessa T. Bobb

Anthony C. Breu

Perry A. Brittis

Heidi W. Brown

Parag Butala

Emily Caro-Bruce

James E. Carroll Jr.

Charles Menq-Chian Chan

Jeffrey Cheng

Grant Chu

Erica Ye-Pyng Chung

Christine M. Combs

Keith A. Corl

Colleen M. Craig

Antonio P. Cruz

Gregory A. Dadekian

Geoffrey P. Douglas

Stephen G. Flynn

Carlie Y. Gaunty

Katja Goldflam

Stacey E. Gorovoy

Shayla D. Graham-Brock

Nicole L. Grenier

Jonathan A. Grossberg

Anna K. Haemel

Allan V. Hansen

Julia E. Harris

Amanda I. Higginson

Beverly K. Johnson

Adisa J. Jones

Christopher Tak-Ming Jue

Edward Woohyun Jung

Woojin Kim

Monica P. Kumar

Felicia Yeung-Yi Kuo

Andrew R. Lai

Jennifer A. Lee

Jason M. Lewis

Onna Yue-Man Lo

Mohsin K. Malik

Jyothi N. Marbin

Akanksha Mehta

Yasmin Metz

Kimberly V. Miller

Christine E. Montross

Katherine I. Moreno

Jeffrey O. Ogbara

Christy M. Paiva

Urvi P. Gonzales

Andrea N. Parada

Charles Park

Stanley Pelosi

Leslie Thanh-Loan Pham

Cheryl B. S. Pirozzi

Michael A. Pirozzi

Gregory J. Renza

Jesse L. Ritvo

Theresa L. Ross

Priya Sateesha

Leah M. Scherzer

Shirin Sioshansi

Erin R. Smith

Hilary R. Smith

Sarah E. Squire

Colin D. Stack

Erin Teeple

Rebecca E. Traub

Stephanie C. Tuttle

Uzoma N. Ukomadu

Snigdha Vallabhaneni

Simmy Varghese

Jaime Vasquez

Daniel E. Vazquez Torres

Ann Walling

Melanie R. Watts

Catherine C. Wells

Cyrus Hayming Yau

Elizabeth L. Yu

* -- magna cum laude

+ -- awarded posthumously

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