Political commentator Christopher John Matthews and news anchor Kathleen Ann Cunningham Matthews will be the speakers at the University's spring commencement ceremonies May 5-6. Each will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

The Rev. Charles R. Stith, director of the African Presidential Archives and Research Center at Boston University and former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Tanzania, also will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree during the commencement exercises. Joseph Fletcher Anderson Jr., chief judge of the U.S. District Court of South Carolina, and Mortimer Maxwell Caplin, a lawyer and educator, each will receive an honorary degree of doctor of laws at the School of Law commencement ceremonies.

Commencement exercises at 3 p.m. May 5 in the Colonial Center will be held for graduates of the Darla Moore School of Business, the College of Engineering and Information Technology, the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, the College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy, the Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, and the College of Social Work.

Commencement exercises will be held at 10:30 a.m. May 6 in the Colonial Center for graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, the School of the Environment, the Fort Jackson Military Base Program, Interdisciplinary Programs, the School of Music, the Honors College, and the College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sports Management.

The University will award more than 5,000 degrees on all campuses. Columbia campus expects to award more than 3,900 degrees, including three associate degrees, 2,341 baccalaureate degrees, 25 Pharm.D. degrees, 26 graduate certificates, 1,041 master's degrees, and 20 specialist degrees.

Claudia Benitez-Nelson, an assistant professor in USC's Department of Geological Sciences, will be the speaker at the doctoral hooding commencement exercises at 8:30 a.m. May 6 in the Koger Center. The Graduate School will award 159 doctoral degrees at the ceremony.

The School of Law will award 228 degrees at commencement exercises at 10 a.m. May 5 on the Horseshoe. The rain location will be the Koger Center. Anderson will be the speaker.

Paul Vincent DeMarco, a 1989 alumnus of the USC School of Medicine, will be the speaker at the medical school's commencement at 12:30 p.m. May 5 in the Koger Center. The School of Medicine will award 81 degrees.

Commencement ceremonies at USC's other campuses:

--USC Beaufort will award 24 associate degrees and 54 baccalaureate degrees at commencement exercises at 6 p.m. April 29 on the Helen and Brantley Harvey Plaza at the USC Beaufort South Campus. Dennis W. Bakke, president and CEO of Imagine Schools and author of Joy of Work, will give the commencement address. One of the newest Imagine Schools is Beaufort County's first charter school, the St. Helena Gullah International Academy, which will open in August and focus on Gullah culture.

--USC Salkehatchie will award 85 associate degrees at commencement ceremonies at 7 p.m. May 1 at the USC Salkehatchie Conference Center on the West Campus in Allendale. Former S.C. Gov. Robert E. McNair will be the speaker. McNair, who practiced law in Allendale and was governor from 1965 to 1971, was in office when USC Salkehatchie was founded 40 years ago.

--USC Union will award 32 associate degrees at commencement exercises at 7 p.m. May 2 in the Main Building. Thomas D. White Jr., superintendent of Union County Schools, will deliver the commencement address.

--USC Sumter will award 29 associate degrees at commencement ceremonies at 7 p.m. May 3 in the Nettles Building Auditorium. David A. King, director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and a USC Sumter alumnus, will deliver the commencement address. While deputy director of the Marshall Center, King played a key role in the recovery operations of NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia. He was the senior on-site NASA official, directing efforts to search for answers and recover debris from the Feb. 1, 2003, accident.

--USC Aiken will award 264 baccalaureate degrees and 11 master's degrees at commencement exercises at 7 p.m. May 4 in the Student Activities Center. Stephen G. Hanks, chief executive officer of the Washington Group International, will be the speaker and will receive an honorary doctor of business administration degree. T. Richard Herold, a former research physicist and senior scientist at the Savannah River Site and now president and chief executive officer of Herold Enterprises Inc., will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

--USC Lancaster will award 151 associate degrees at 3 p.m. May 6 in the Bundy Auditorium. Anne J. Udall, executive director of the Lee Institute in Charlotte, N.C., will deliver the commencement address. Udall is an author and an educational consultant in the areas of gifted education, curriculum development, and higher-level thinking skills.

--USC Upstate will award 461 baccalaureate degrees and seven master's degrees at commencement ceremonies at 7 p.m. May 6 on the Quad behind the Administration Building. Myles Brand, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), will deliver the commencement address. Brand has presided over passage of the most comprehensive academic reform package for intercollegiate athletics in recent history--a package that refocuses the attention of student-athletes, coaches, and administrators on the education of student-athletes.

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