BREAKING NEWS
Consul General Peter Bodde Speaks at Mannheim Commencement By Mary Fiedler The keynote speaker for the commencement ceremony at UMUC’s Mannheim campus May 8, 2004, was no stranger to the university’s two-year program for U.S. military dependents and State Department personnel. Peter Bodde, consul general at the American Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany, is himself a 1974 graduate of the original Munich campus. Bodde began by praising an overseas education and encouraged students to learn a foreign language and to reach out and strengthen their ties with Germans. He discussed diplomatic changes that have taken place between the United States and Germany since September 11, 2001, and predicted that Germany’s long and productive history with the United States and shared core values will be long-lasting.
the U.S. International Trade Commission, then joined the Foreign Service. Bodde served in Guyana, Nepal, Germany, Bulgaria, Denmark, and India, where he was the minister counselor for administrative affairs. He also served in various positions in the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., most recently as the director of the Office of Management Policy. After the ceremony, Bodde visited with students and faculty, reminiscing about his days at the Munich campus. His wife, Tanya, is a graduate of the Mannheim campus.
UMUC Students, Faculty, and Staff Inducted into Phi Kappa Phi By Chip Cassano On April 4, 2004, in a ceremony on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park, 193 UMUC graduate and undergraduate students were inducted into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. They joined a network of more than 1 million members, past and present, of one of the largest and oldest honor societies in the country. “The University of Maryland chapter of Phi Kappa Phi dates back to 1920, the 22nd of more than 300 chapters active today,” said Paul Keller, a program director and professor in UMUC’s Graduate School who is currently serving a two-year term as president of the University of Maryland chapter. “The chapter is unusual in that it serves five different institutions—University of Maryland, Baltimore; University of Maryland, Baltimore County; University of Maryland, College Park; University of Maryland Eastern Shore; and of course UMUC, which has been a member since the early 1970s.”
Consul General Peter Bodde poses with class valedictorian Rebecca Cheney (left) and salutatorian Erin Cohen (right) at the UMUC commencement ceremony in Mannheim, Germany.
“I implore you to commit yourselves to Europe,” said Bodde. “Get out there and be active!” After earning his associate’s degree from UMUC, Bodde graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a bachelor’s degree in 1976. He served as a commodity industry analyst with
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But there is more to Phi Kappa Phi than its size and long history. The society is also one of the country’s most exclusive, open to candidates from all disciplines by invitation only. Those invitations are extended to eligible juniors in the top 7.5 percent of their class, seniors in the top 10 percent, or graduate students with a grade-point average of 3.9 or better. UMUC is well represented in the ranks of Phi Kappa Phi, and not just by students. In addition to Keller, Eugene Rubin, chair of UMUC’s Master of Distance Education program, serves as secretary of the chapter, and Theo Stone, acting associate provost
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