On Saturday, May 16, friends and family gathered at the Campanile Esplanade to celebrate this year's graduates of the UC Berkeley School of Information. The class of 2009 included 24 master's degrees and two doctoral degrees.
Dean AnnaLee Saxenian welcomed the audience and introduced the commencement speaker, John Markoff, senior writer for The New York Times, where he covers computer and technology issues. Markoff's address described the challenges of newspapers in the age of the Internet, blogs, Twitter, and "instant news" and offered his hopes and predictions for the future of journalism.
Graduating master's students Nick Rabinowitz and Ashwin Mathew offered their perspective of their time at the I School, remembering the highlights of their two years and commiserating with other students and faculty about the difficulty of describing what exactly a "school of information" is.
The commencement ceremony also presented an opportunity to honor both faculty and student achievements. Students honored two faculty members: Associate Professor John Chuang received the I School Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Distinguished Mentor Award was presented to Adjunct Professor Paul Duguid.
Dean Saxenian presented the 2009 Dr. James R. Chen Awards for outstanding Master's final projects to the projects "The OCHA Sitrep," "KnowPrivacy," "tldr," and "Building Collective Memories Online." Following the ceremony, graduates, friends, and family enjoyed a festive reception on the South Hall lawn.
