Scranton Plans to Welcome Class of 2014

      The University of Scranton community will welcome formally the Class of 2014 at the New Student Convocation at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 21, at the Byron Recreation Complex. This will be the first time the entire Class of 2014 will be together.

      Parents and family members of the incoming class are encouraged to attend the ceremony, which will include remarks from University of Scranton President Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., and the presentation of the Class of 2014 banner.

      Also at the ceremony, an honorary degree will be conferred to best-selling author Stephen Kinzer, who wrote “A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and The Man Who Dreamed It,” the book read by incoming freshmen at Scranton. The book examines the life and vision of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, a Tutsi refugee who organized the military movement that helped end genocide in his country and has since led a program of reconstruction in his country.

      An award-winning foreign correspondent, Kinzer worked for The New York Times for more than 20 years, often reporting on historic events. As bureau chief in Nicaragua in the 1980s, he covered war and upheaval in Central America. As bureau chief in Germany during the 1990s, he covered Germany’s unifications and post-Communist Europe.

      His books include “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua” and “All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror.”

      Kinzer is a graduate of Boston University. He currently teaches journalism and political science at Northwestern University and contributes articles to the New York Review of Books and other periodicals.

      Kinzer will discuss “A Thousand Hills” with the members of the Class of 2014 at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 22.

      Rwanda will be the focus of the entire University of Scranton community for the 2010-2011 academic year. A series of lectures and events will be conducted throughout the year to bring an understanding of Rwanda’s culture, history and injustices suffered by its people, as well at the current complex challenges and changes faced by the nation.

      Fall Welcome will also include an All Student Welcome Mass, a barbeque, entertainment, a class photo, residence hall and commuter meetings, an alumni legacy reception and other activities.

      Also during the weekend, the University will conduct an orientation program for incoming students of the College of Graduate and Continuing Education.