Hail! Hail! Lincoln. In a stirring salute to the University, the Class of 2002 proudly sings their alma mater at commencement. Two hundred and seventy-five seniors received baccalaureate degrees and another 163 students were awarded master's degrees at the May 5th ceremony.

Assembling for Commencement, President Ivory V. Nelson (center) greets the honorary degree recipients. They are (L-R): Roderick L. Ireland '66, Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (Doctor of Laws); Dr. Na'im Akbar, a noted educator and psychologist (Doctor of Humane Letters); President Nelson; Herb J. Wesson Jr. '99, Speaker of the California State Assembly, who delivered the Commencement address (Doctor of Laws); and Marita Rivero, who accepted the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree for her deceased father, Manuel Rivero, a Lincoln Professor Emeritus.

President Ivory V. Nelson (center) awaits the start of Commencement with University trustees, faculty, staff, alumni and guests. They are (L-R), front row: Dr. Robert L. Albright '66, trustee; Dr. James A. Parker '42, emeritus trustee; Dr. David Knox '72, trustee; Dr. Ernest C. Levister, Jr. '58, trustee; Dr. Levi A. Nwachuku '67, professor of history; Herb J. Wesson, Jr. '99, Speaker, California State Assembly; President Nelson; Adrienne G. Rhone '76, chair of trustees; William C. King '73, Esq., vice chair of trustees; J. Vernon Peterson '73, trustee; Dr. William E. Bennett '50, trustee; the Hon. LeAnna M. Washington, M.H.S. '89, trustee; Warren R. Colbert, Sr. '68, trustee; and Dr. Leonard L. Bethel '61, trustee.

Back row: Dr. Delroy M. Louden, professor of psychology; Michael B. Hill, vice president, Development & External Relations; Dr. Na'im Akbar, honorary degree recipient; Jovan Davis '02, student trustee; Dr. William B. Bynum, Jr., vice president, Student Affairs & Enrollment Management; Frank C. Gihan '72, trustee; Rev. John H. West III '76; Lisa M.B. Johnson '85, president, Alumni Association; Cyrus Jones, athletics director; Sharlene Roberson '80, trustee; Dwight S. Taylor '68, trustee; Walter D. Chambers '52, emeritus trustee; William A. Robinson '42, emeritus trustee; Marita Rivero, daughter of the late Manuel Rivero, honorary degree recipient; Justice Roderick L. Ireland '66, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, honorary degree recipient; Dr. Robert Langley '80, associate professor of chemistry; and Howard E. Merlin, vice president, Fiscal Affairs.

Lincoln's 2002 Founder's Day honorees proudly display their plaques received at the May 4th banquet. They are (L-R): Tehma H. Smith '00, a systems engineer at Lockheed Martin, who has created a scholarship fund at Lincoln; Phyllis G. Woolley '85, director of African-American marketing, Colgate-Palmolive, who has established an endowed fund at Lincoln; Dr. Alvin E. Amos, a Lincoln professor of music, and his wife, Carol, who established a scholarship award in music at the University. A fourth recipient, William B. Ingram '61, vice president of public school relations for Sylvan Education Solution, was unable to attend the banquet.

The Alumni Association Distinguished Award was presented to Dr. Fred Johnson '27, formerly executive secretary of the North Philadelphia Branch of the YMCA, posthumously. Dr. Johnson died March 30, 2002; he was 102 years old; Carla J. Maxwell Ray '82, associate vice president, Office of Institutional Advancement, Morehouse School of Medicine; and Rev. Dr. James A. Scott '52, minister emeritus, Bethany Baptist Church, Newark, N.J. A fourth recipient, Lewis T. Berry Jr. '57, president of Cleres Shoes, Inc., was unable to attend the banquet.