Commencement's Distinguished Grand Marshal

	Ronald A. Bosco

A Distinguished Professor of English and American Literature, a Distinguished Service Professor and a Collins Fellow at the University at Albany, Ronald A. Bosco is also the highly visible Grand Marshal at the University at Albany's Commencement ceremonies. Since his appointment as Grand Marshal in 1999, Bosco has led the parade of University faculty and graduates carrying the ceremonial mace of solid aged red oak, resplendent with the brass inlays and medallions that represent phases of the University's history and reflect UAlbany's tribute to Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom. Weighty in its ceremonial tradition, it is also extremely heavy to carry. But heaviness aside, it is clearly a role that Bosco takes pride in and enjoys.

At UAlbany--as at many other collegiate institutions--the Grand Marshal is always a senior member of the teaching faculty. At some institutions, the length of service a person performs in this role is as brief as one Commencement. In those cases, the person selected is usually either the highest ranking or the longest serving member of the faculty then retiring. Sometimes it is a lifetime appointment. Our tradition at UAlbany is that the person who accepts the president's appointment as Grand Marshal serves in that role for as long as he or she is a member of the University's faculty. Bosco's predecessors, professors Donald Reeb and Kendall Birr, each served for eight years prior to their retirements.

"Even if I were not privileged to serve as the University at Albany's Grand Marshal, I would, with my colleagues on the faculty, participate in and enjoy Commencement," said Bosco. "It is an opportunity to celebrate and recognize our graduates as they end one phase of their lives and begin the next, which may be a career, further studies, or creative combinations of these."

In addition to his role as Grand Marshal, Bosco is known for his many academic and professional pursuits. He is an extraordinarily active scholar, a prolific writer and lecturer on Puritan poetics and homiletics, and on New England Transcendentalism. Last year he was only the fifth person and the first ever literary scholar to receive the prestigious Thoreau Society Medal -- the society's highest award. He is also a past recipient of the Emerson Society's Distinguished Achievement Award for his exceptional contributions to Emerson studies. He has been teaching at UAlbany for 30 years.

 

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