Children's Defense Fund (CDF) founder and director Marian Wright Edelman urged students graduating from Berea College Sunday afternoon to be part of a mighty movement to Leave No Child Behind, CDF's trademarked mission words made familiar to many Americans as a campaign promise adopted by George W. Bush during his presidential campaign.

"It's time for greatness--not for greed"...."for idealism--not ideology " said
Edelman. Citing the millions of children in the U.S. who are poor and in need
of health insurance and quality educational programs, Edelman challenged
graduates to help "move children's needs to the top of community, state and
national agendas" by "never working just for money and power" and "assigning yourself to make a difference in building a just America."

Edelman's remarks proceeded the awarding of degrees to 164 seniors and
recognition of an additional 10 students who will graduate at the end of summer term.

The College awarded honorary degrees to Mrs. Edelman and to author and Indiana University Distinguished Professor Dr. Scott Russell Sanders.

Awards to two graduates and two College staff members also were presented at the program, held in Seabury Center.

The Hilda Welch Wood Award for outstanding achievement by a female student went to Jill Carpenter of Nebo, N.C., who received a bachelor of arts in English with a minor in Latin. The T. J Wood Award for outstanding achievement by a male student went to Ambrose Sanjeewa Priya Goonasakera of Sri Lanka, who received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry.

Berea's highest faculty honor - the Seabury Award for Excellence in Teaching - was presented to Dr. Richard D. Sears, professor and chair of the English and Theatre department. Sears holds a Ph. D. in English Literature from Ohio University and masters and bachelor of arts degrees in English Language and Literature from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He joined the College faculty in 1967. A widely published scholar with a variety of research interests, and long-active in College and community theatre both as a director and actor, Sears also has been at the forefront of faculty who have developed innovative ways of using computer technology and internet resources to enhance teaching and learning at Berea.

Nursing Department assistant professor Brenda Hosley, M.S.N, received the
Elizabeth Perry Miles Award for Community Service. A 1981 Berea graduate and a member of the College faculty since 1990, Hosley has been active in a variety of community activities that include the Community Health Council of Jackson, Rockcastle, and Southern Madison Counties, the Berea Wellness Consortium, the Madison County Health Fair and Jackson County Health Initiative Partnership Committee and has served on the board of the Mountain Maternal Health League and other organizations.

Earlier Sunday, the baccalaureate sermon was delivered by Dr. Kandace
Queen-Sutherland, professor of religious studies at Stetson University.

An advocate for disadvantaged Americans for her entire professional life,
Edelman began the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) in 1973. Under her leadership, the Washington-based organization has become a strong national voice for children and families, with a mission to educate the nation about the needs of children and encourage preventive investment in children.

After graduating from Spelman College and Yale Law School, Edelman began her career in the mid-60's when, as the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar, she directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Jackson, Miss. In 1968, she moved to Washington, D.C. as counsel for the Poor People's March that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began organizing before his death. She founded the Washington Research Project, a public interest law firm and parent body of the CDF, and also served for two years as the director of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard University before starting the CDF.

For her work on behalf of children, Edelman has received many honorary degrees and awards including the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Prize, the Heinz Award, and was a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellow. She has served as a member and chair of the Board of Trustees of Spelman College, and was the first woman elected by alumni as a member of the Yale Corporation on which she served form 1971-77.

She is the author of five books: "Families in Peril: An Agenda for Social
Change;" "The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours;"
" Guide to My Feet: Meditations and Prayers on Loving and Working for Children;" "Stand for Children;" and "Lanterns: A Memoir of Mentors."

Sanders, a member of the Indiana University English faculty since 1971, and the recipients of several teaching awards also directs IU's Wells Scholars Program. He has received fellowships for writing from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Indiana Arts Commission, the Lilly Endowment and the Guggenheim Foundation.

He has published eighteen books, including eight works of fiction and his essays and fiction has appeared widely in publications such as Audubon, Harper's, Orion, North American Review and Utne Reader. In addition he has served as editor for several literary journals and as a columnist on new fiction for the Chicago Sun-Times especially concerned with our relation to nature, issues of social justice, the character of community and the impact of science on our lives. His work has received numerous literary awards including the Lannon Literary Award in 1995 for his collected work in nonfiction and the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Excellence.

Reared in Tennessee and Ohio, he holds a B.A. in English from Brown University and a Ph.D. in English from Cambridge University