Pulitzer Prize-winning author McCullough to address Class of 2002

Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough will deliver the address at Wheaton's 167th commencement on Saturday, May 18. The ceremony begins at 10. a.m.

McCullough has been called a „master of the art of narrative history.‰ His books have been praised for their exceptional narrative sweep, their scholarship and insight into American life and for their literary distinction.

McCullough is twice winner of the National Book Award, twice winner of the prestigious Francis Parkman Prize, and now twice winner of the Pultizer Prize, most recently for his biography, John Adams. For his monumental work, Truman, he also received the Pulitzer Prize. For his work overall, he has been honored with the National Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award, the National Humanities Medal, the St. Louis Literary Award, the Carl Sandburg Award and the New York Public Library‚s Literary Lion Award.

His books include The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge, The Path Between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, Brave Companions, Truman and John Adams. As may be said of the work of few writers, none of his books have ever been out of print.

McCullough has been an editor, essayist, teacher, lecturer, and familiar presence on public television˜as host of Smithsonian World, The American Experience and narrator of numerous documentaries including The Civil War and Napoleon. He is a past president of the Society of American Historians. He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received more than 31 honorary degrees.

A gifted speaker, McCullough has lectured in all parts of the country and abroad, as well as at the White House, as part of the White House presidential lecture series. He is also one of the few private citizens to be asked to speak before a joint session of Congress.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1933, McCullough was educated there and at Yale, where he graduated with honors in English literature. An avid reader, traveler and landscape painter, he lives in West Tisbury, Massachusetts with his wife Rosalee Barnes McCullough. They have five children and fifteen grandchildren.

Joining McCullough on the dais will be honorary degree recipients Andrew Wyeth, the American realist artist; Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University; and Patricia W. Karter '77, co-founder of Boston's Dancing Deer Baking Co.

The Wheaton community celebrates Commencement and Reunion together on the weekend on May 18. Hundreds of Wheaton alumnae/i are expected to attend reunion events, including the Class of 1992, Wheaton's first coeducational class, who will return to campus for their tenth reunion.

Wheaton, is a highly selective college of the liberal arts and sciences with a student body of 1,500. It is a member of the Twelve College Exchange, which also includes Amherst, Bowdoin, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Trinity, Vassar, Wellesley, Wesleyan and Williams.