Traister will address final winter commencement

Barbara Traister, professor of English, will deliver the commencement address at Lehigh’s final winter commencement ceremony, which will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004 in Stabler Arena. Nearly 500 students from the university’s four colleges will receive their diplomas.
“I am flattered and a bit overwhelmed by the opportunity to have the last word as our graduates leave for their futures,” says Traister, who joined the Lehigh faculty in 1973. But, she quickly adds, “After 30 years of listening to commencement speeches, I am remembering that the key word is ‘brief.’”
Gregory C. Farrington, president of Lehigh, has no doubt that Traister will deliver a memorable address for the university’s final winter commencement.
“Barbara is one of Lehigh’s faculty treasures whose commitment to the university and our students has been strong for many years,” Farrington says. “She also is a great person, and I know she will deliver a wonderful commencement address.”
While the winter commencement ceremony is being eliminated after this year, the number of times each year that degrees are conferred is being increased to three. Starting with the next academic year, there will be one commencement ceremony in May, but degrees also will be conferred in January and September.
Traister has authored numerous articles on early modern drama, medicine, and magic, and has served a scholar residence at College of Physicians of Philadelphia and at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, where she taught courses in medical literature for a number of years.
She holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and taught for a short time in the Midwest at Kalamazoo College. Her publications include Heavenly Necromancers: The Magician in English Renaissance Drama (Missouri), and The Notorious Astrological Physician of London (Chicago).
Traister lectures and writes about the literature of 16th and 17th century England, particularly about Shakespeare and his contemporary dramatists. Her other interests include contemporary drama, adolescent literature, and literature about medicine and magic.
--Ella Studdiford
For more information, contact Andrew Stanten in University Relations.