LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ Rider University will celebrate its 132nd commencement on Friday, May 16, 1997, at 10:30 a.m. on the Campus Green.

In addition to conferring 1,037 graduate and undergraduate degrees, three distinguished guests will be awarded Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees: Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Financial Markets; Robert G. Torricelli, U.S. Senator from New Jersey; and S. Howard Woodson, Jr., pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church of Trenton, NJ, and former councilman and state assemblyman.

The ceremony will include the presentation of the Rider University Awards for Distinguished Teaching to two faculty members. A total of 13 Baccalaureate Honors Scholars will also be recognized, and 187 students will graduate with distinction.

Matthew Scott Fuellhart of Pennington, NJ, a B.S. degree candidate in computer information systems, will give the student address. Fuellhart, a transfer from Mercer County Community College, has worked full-time at night at Bloomberg Financial Markets in Princeton, NJ, and has attended Rider as a continuing studies student during the day. At Bloomberg, he has dealt with currency markets in the Pacific Rim market which consists of Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Presenting the Class of 1997's gift to the University will be Helen Lee of Cherry Hill, NJ, president of the senior class and a marketing major/international studies minor. The gift includes two fountains for Centennial Lake on the Lawrenceville campus and beautification of the gazebo area adjacent to the lake. It was financed in large part by the sale of engraved bricks for the Campus Walk.

Marianne S. Battista '56 of Bordentown, NJ, a member of the Rider accounting faculty for 23 years and winner of the 1981 Award for Distinguished Teaching, will lead the 10 a.m. commencement procession as the Grand Marshal. Alumni Association president Nina V. Malone '84, '96, also of Bordentown, will carry the Rider flag.

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 17, with the procession beginning at 10 a.m. followed by the ceremony at 10:30 a.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.

Michael R. Bloomberg founded Bloomberg Financial Markets in 1981, and since then the company has reached unparalleled heights in the realm of multimedia news and financial services. Information provided by the company reaches more than 72,000 terminals at investment and securities firms in almost every country with significant capital markets or money management activities. Headquartered in New York, NY, with a large data-collection facility in Princeton, the company also publishes Bloomberg Magazine and two book lines offering personal finance advice and references. It produces two nationally-syndicated television news magazine programs, and has recently launched Bloomberg Personal Online, an Internet-based financial data and information service.

After 14 years of service to the State of New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives, Robert G. Torricelli won election to the U.S. Senate last November. He is best known in Congressional circles for his foreign policy and human rights commitments, having been the chief Democratic sponsor of the Persian Gulf War Resolution and the author of the Cuban Democracy Act in 1992. An ardent advocate of safe communities, environmental protection, and gun control, Torricelli also has a strong commitment to education, supporting the Federal Student Loan Program and a working family tax deduction for education expenses. He currently serves on the Senate Judiciary, Governmental Affairs, and Rules Committees, and is vice-chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

S. Howard Woodson, Jr., has managed to successfully combine his calling as a minister with a secondary career as a public servant in the Trenton area since 1946. Well known among clergy in New Jersey through his work as pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church of Trenton for 51 years, he began his political career with election as Councilman At-Large in 1962. One year later, Woodson became a pioneer for African-Americans in government as the first in Mercer County to hold an elected position in the state legislature. He built on that accomplishment with his election as assembly minority leader in 1967 and, by unanimous vote in 1974, he became the first black in the nation to serve as speaker of the house in a state government.

Rider University is an independent, coeducational, nonsectarian institution with a 353-acre campus in Lawrenceville, NJ, and a 23-acre campus in Princeton, NJ. The University offers 57 undergraduate programs and 15 graduate programs in business, education, liberal arts, science, education, and music. Ninety-five percent of Rider's faculty members hold doctorate 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.