LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Rider University will celebrate its 133rd commencement on Friday, May 15, 1998, at 10:30 a.m. on the University's Lawrenceville Campus Green.

In addition to conferring 671 undergraduate and 240 graduate degrees, Richard Bilotti (left), president and publisher of The Times of Trenton, will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

The ceremonies will include the presentation of the Rider University Awards for Distinguished Teaching to two outstanding faculty members. A total of 10 Baccalaureate Honors Scholars and 238 students graduating with distinction will also be recognized.

Brian Gibboney of Trenton, a bachelor of arts candidate in business administration, will give the student commencement address. Gibboney is a non-traditional Rider student who is receiving his degree through the College of Continuing Studies. He is employed by Rider's department of athletics as equipment manager.

Presenting the Class of 1998's gift to the University will be Carolyn St. Hilaire of South River, president of the senior class and a bachelor of arts candidate in communications. The gift is the new American elm tree planted on the south side of Moore Library, near where a campus landmark 86-year-old elm stood prior to being removed last July after it was stricken with Dutch elm disease. The gift was financed by the class legacy campaign, which has been raising funds through the sale of engraved bricks for the Campus Walk between the Student Center and Memorial Hall.

Dr. Richard Beach of Yardley, PA, a professor of chemistry at Rider and a 1983 recipient of the Rider University Award for Distinguished Teaching, will lead the 10 a.m. commencement procession as the grand marshal. The grand marshal is traditionally the retiring faculty member with the longest current tenure at the University. Dr. Beach joined the Rider chemistry department in 1963.

Commencement will be held outside, rain or shine. In the event of severe weather - such as hail, high wind, or lightning - the events will be postponed until Saturday, May 16, with the procession beginning at 10 a.m. followed by the commencement exercises at 10:30 a.m. All University entrances will be closed to incoming traffic from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the day of commencement. The main gate will be closed to outgoing traffic from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. All normal traffic procedures in the area will be resumed at 3 p.m.

Schedule changes will be announced by 6 a.m. the morning of commencement via the Rider University information hotline, (609) 219-2000 extension 1, and area radio stations.

Richard Bilotti, a resident of Pennington, has served as president and publisher of The Times since 1984. Prior to taking the helm at the The Times he held the same positions at The Gloucester County Times in Woodbury, NJ from 1979-84.

Bilotti got his start in journalism in 1958 as a copy boy and reporter for the Newark Star-Ledger. While serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, AK from 1966-68, he handled triple-duty as editor of the Yukon Sentinel, news anchor for KTVF-TV, and reporter for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. After receiving an honorable discharge from the armed forces, he returned to Newark for a four-year stint as a reporter for the The Evening News before taking a job in 1972 as night editor and feature writer with the Cleveland bureau of The Associated Press. Three years later he was named editor of The Sunday Plain Dealer Magazine in Cleveland, a position he held until 1979 when he was given the opportunity to run The Gloucester County Times.

In addition to his extensive experience in the newspaper industry, Bilotti's professional and community involvement elevates his status as one of the most respected business leaders in the Delaware Valley. He is a current director and past president of the New Jersey Press Association, as well as a member of the Newspaper Association of America, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and the Society of Professional Journalists. In the community, he is involved with the Urban League of Metropolitan Trenton, the Mercer County Economic Development Council, the United Way of Greater Mercer County, and is a past president of the Mercer County Chamber of Commerce.

Bilotti has also served on Rider University's "Minding Our Business" Advisory Board since its inception two years ago. "Minding Our Business" is a program designed by Rider marketing professor Dr. Sigfredo Hernandez to promote entrepreneurial skills in students at the Arthur J. Holland Middle School in urban Trenton through hands-on mentoring and guidance by Rider students and area business and community leaders. The program has blossomed into part of an economic enhancement effort in the city's West Ward.

Rider University is an independent, coeducational, nonsectarian institution with a 353-acre main campus in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and a 23-acre campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The University offers 58 undergraduate programs and 17 graduate programs in the Colleges of Business Administration; Liberal Arts, Education, and Sciences; Continuing Studies; and Westminster Choir College. Ninety-three percent of the faculty hold doctoral or other appropriate advanced degrees. U.S. News and World Report has again ranked Rider in the top tier of northern universities based on the quality of its programs.

Rider's Lawrenceville campus is located five miles south of Princeton and three miles north of Trenton on Route 206 in Lawrence Township, NJ. The campus is one-half mile south of exit 7A of Interstate 95.