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Versatile British writer, Fay Weldon, will be the keynote speaker for 4,500 graduating students at two of the University of Connecticut's undergraduate commencement ceremonies today.
Weldon, who has written everything from novels to children's stories to screen plays, will address the crowds of students, parents and faculty in Gampel Pavilion at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
"I am particularly pleased with the choice this year of a writer," said Dean Douglas, CLAS Associate Dean. "Ms. Weldon embodies many of the qualities we want to see in our students: creativity and the willingness to engage in the debate of controversial issues, with a touch of irreverence."
According to Douglas, nominations for the commencement speaker are taken throughout the year from members of the university community and from the general public. The Board of Trustees Honors and Awards Committee receives the nominations and committee members vote for the final selection.
Weldon's writing credentials helped her get the position. She has published over 20 novels, five collections of short stories, several non-fiction books, a number of children's books, newspaper and magazine articles and plays written for stage performance, television and radio. Recently, she has been known for writing scripts for the British television drama, "Upstairs, Downstairs."
Much of Weldon's fiction portrays women dealing with men, family, peers, marriage, modern life and oppression in a patriarchal western society.
Despite living across the Atlantic, Weldon is no stranger to UConn. She visited the Storrs campus for three days in April of last year as the Aetna Visiting Writer in Residence. During her stay, she read some of her works and tutored 10 creative writing students. Most of the students were writing novels and Weldon helped critique and construct their stories.
In addition to Weldon, the selection of speakers for UConn's commencement ceremonies this year is broad and the speakers have a wide range of experiences and backgrounds.
Wolfgang Ketterle, a Nobel Prize winner and John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics at MIT will speak for the Master's and Doctoral students at Gampel Pavilion on May 5.
Dr. Charles Bertolami, the dean of the School of Dentistry at the University of California, San Francisco, will speak for the graduating medical and dental students in Hartford on May 13.
Shirin Ebadi, human rights activist and the first Iranian woman and first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize will speak for the UConn School of Law graduates on May 20.
In addition, three separate ceremonies for the School of Fine Arts, the Neag School of Education and the School of Pharmacy will host three separate speakers.
"Teacher of the Year" Robin Bogner will speak at the School of Pharmacy commencement, the Emmy-nominated director Christopher Keen Donovan will speak to the Fine Arts students and philanthropist Ray Neag himself will speak at the commencement for the Neag School of Education.
Weldon, who was born in England and is now 75, has the largest audience out of all of the speakers. Many students across campus are eager and curious about what she'll talk about.
"It is a great honor to have such an accomplished writer speak at our graduation," said Severine Forster, 8th-semester communication sciences and French major. "Having her come all the way from England is really exciting and I can't wait to hear what she has to say."
Weldon has lived in New Zealand and England all her life and changed her name several times from her original name of Franklin Birkinshaw.
Weldon's mother, Margaret Birkinshaw, also wrote fictional novels under the pen name Pearl Bellairs. Growing up with her mother, sister and grandmother molded much of her ideals about women in society and in turn, her writing itself.
"I believe writing is just a talent, like music or painting or any other inherent skill - you either have it or not," Weldon recently said in an interview with "The Lady" magazine. "I come from a family of writers so I definitely inherited it, although they never actively encouraged me. I learned by example."
In college, Weldon didn't have plans to write and instead she studied economics and psychology at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Weldon feels she was admitted to the school partially because her name was Franklin and it was assumed she was a male. She got by as an advertising writer in London for eight years before starting her career as a fiction writer.
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