Outgoing Drew President Will Be Commencement Speaker

Drew University will host its 146th Commencement at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 17, 2014. The graduates will make their traditional procession from the Simon Forum to the Mead Hall Lawn, led by a bagpiper and drummer.

Each of the 605 graduates from the university’s three schools—the College of Liberal Arts, the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies and the Theological School—will cross the porch at Mead Hall to receive their diplomas, showcasing the Greek Revival building constructed in the 1830s that is on the National Historic Registry.

Outgoing Drew President Vivian A. Bull will be this year’s commencement speaker. The Drew University Chorale and Ubuntu Pan-African Choir will perform during the ceremony and the event will be live streamed at: https://new.livestream.com/DrewU/commencement2014.

Two people will be awarded honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees at the commencement ceremony. They are: Bishop In Hwan Kim T’85 and Drew Trustee Hugh D’Andrade. In addition, one faculty member from each of the university’s three schools will be selected to receive the following awards:

•       General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church Scholar/Teacher of the Year

•       Thomas H. Kean Scholar/Mentor of the Year

•       President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching

For more information about parking and other details, visit Drew’s Commencement webpage

President Vivian A. Bull

Dr. Vivian A. Bull became Drew President on July 1, 2012. She had previously taught at Drew for more than 30 years as a member of the economics department and had served for eight years as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Bull also directed the Semester on the European Community in Brussels four times and served on a total of 21 Drew-led archaeological expeditions in the Middle East. In 1992 she left Drew for Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, to become that school’s 18th president. She retired from Linfield in 2005. Bull received her doctorate from New York University and her bachelor’s degree from Albion College. She did graduate work at the London School of Economics on a Fulbright Scholarship and has studied in Norway, Great Britain and the Netherlands. She is the recipient of honorary degrees from the University of Portland, Drew University and Albion College. Bull was married to Robert J. Bull, Drew Professor of Church History Emeritus, until his death in 2013. She has two sons, Camper, a 1991 graduate of Drew’s College of Liberal Arts and a former president of its alumni association, and Carlson.

Bishop In Hwan Kim T’85 earned his Master of Divinity degree at Drew Theological School in 1985 and received the George Warren Memorial Prize for outstanding New Testament scholarship. In 2010, he was the first Drew graduate to be elected as a bishop in the Korean Methodist Church. He also has been appointed vice president of the Asian Methodist Council and the Episcopal delegate of the Korean Methodist Church to the World Methodist Council. He served as a member of the Drew Development Committee from 1995 to 1999 and has mentored many Theological School graduates during his career. Bishop Kim has been an active leader in Korean Christianity and has served as a district superintendent for the China district, chair of the Future Ministry Forum since 2009 and chair of the Spiritual Great Revival Movement from 2007 to 2009. He was the pastor of Calvary United Methodist Church in East Brunswick for 18 years and has been senior pastor at Sung Eun Korean Methodist Church in Seoul, South Korea, since 1999. He has published 11 books and many journal and newspaper articles.

Hugh D’Andrade has served as a Drew Trustee since 1987. During his tenure, he has served on the board’s executive committee, academic affairs committee, committee on trustees, investment committee, compensation committee, science advisory committee and chair of the academic affairs committee and bylaws subcommittee. He served as the secretary of the board for a decade, stepping down in 2013. D’Andrade and his wife, Mary, have been generous supporters of Drew over the years. They’ve contributed to the building of the Simon Forum & Athletic Center, the renovation and expansion of the Hall of Sciences and the construction of the Ehinger Center. D’Andrade is the retired chairman and chief administrative officer of Schering-Plough Corporation and also held senior-level positions at CIBA-GEIGY Corporation, now Novartis. He was formerly an attorney with Toner, Crowley, Woelper & Vanderbilt and a law secretary in the New Jersey Supreme Court.