Contact: Maridith Geuder
Spring graduates at Mississippi State University will have a new commencement audience Saturday [May 9], thanks to the World Wide Web.
Graduation ceremonies will be distributed live on the Internet. The broadcast will be the first of its kind for a Mississippi university or college.
Some 1,600 bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree candidates are scheduled to receive diplomas.
Beginning at 10 a.m., the real-time audio and video of the Scott Field ceremonies may be accessed at MSU's home site, http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/video/commencement.htm. Viewers will need a RealVideo player or Microsoft NetShow with RealVideo, both of which are available free for many platforms. (A link to both players is available at msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/video/).
John Bryan Jr. will be the commencement speaker. The West Point native is chief executive officer and chairman of Chicago-based Sara Lee Corp.
Bryan has headed the $20 billion global packaged food and consumer products company since being named president in 1974.