Bellarmine University will award more than 235 degrees during its 2006 December commencement exercises on Wednesday, Dec. 20. Ceremonies will begin at 5 p.m. in Knights Hall with author and death penalty abolitionist Helen Prejean, CSJ delivering the commencement address.
During the ceremony, Bellarmine will award 27 doctorates, 121 master’s degrees, and 90 undergraduate degrees. Honorary degrees will be awarded to Sr. Prejean and Louisville philanthropist and businessman Mason Rudd. Another highlight of the commencement exercises will be awarding the Archbishop's Medal of Scholastic Excellence, which is awarded to the graduate(s) having the highest cumulative grade point average.
Sister Prejean is probably best known for her bestselling book Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States, which was number one on the New York Times Best Seller List for 31 weeks. The book also was nominated for a 1993 Pulitzer Price and was made into the 1996 movie Dead Man Walking, which received four Oscar nominations. Presently, she is working on a book for Random House Publishers on two possibly innocent men on death row.
Rudd is the founder and retired chairman of Rudd Equipment Company and served 34 years as chair of the local board of health. He also is a life member and former chair of the Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services Board. Among the many other organizations he has served are the Council on Higher Education, Channel 15 and the Metro United Way.