Undergraduate Commencement Speakers in the 1930s

1930 - June 9

Clyde Furst

Furst was Secretary of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.


1931 - June 8

Edmund W. Sinnott

From 1921-28, Sinnott was Dean of the Division of Agricultural Sciences at C.A.C. In 1931, the division became the Division of Arts and Sciences and in 1961 it became the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Sinnott later taught botany at Barnard College, and then was Sterling Professor of Botany at Yale.


1932 - June 13

Arthur F. Ells

Ells, from Litchfield, Conn., was a Connecticut Superior Court judge.


1933 - June 12

Donald A. Adams

Adams, the first professor of business law at Yale University, owned a New Haven insurance firm and was Rotary International president in 1925-26.


1934 - June 11

Harry Allen Overstreet

A psychologist, Overstreet was the head of the philosophy department of City College of New York from 1911 to 1939.


1935 - June 10

Ralph Henry Gabriel

A professor at Yale University, Gabriel was the author of "The Pageant of America," a pictorial history of the United States in 1925. He also was a founder and past president of the American Studies Association.


1936 - June 14

Albert N. Jorgensen

Jorgensen was inaugurated as president of Connecticut State College on June 12, and spoke at commencement June 14. Both ceremonies were held in Hawley Armory.


1937 - June 13

Albert N. Jorgensen

The ceremony held on what was called "the front campus" -- the lawn in front of Beach Hall facing Route 195.


1938 - June 12

Albert N. Jorgensen

Jorgensen's address for 1938 was entitled "Individual Worth and the Sanction of Reason".


1939 - June 11

Albert N. Jorgensen

This was the last graduation for Connecticut State College, which became the University of Connecticut on July 1.

 

Information on the History of Commencement pages was researched and compiled by Mark J. Roy