May 9, 2013 

WHAT:          University of Pennsylvania's 257th Commencement ceremony

WHO:            Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will present the main Commencement address and receive an honorary doctor of laws degree.

Other honorary degree recipients are Kwame Anthony Appiah, a Princeton University professor and widely published philosopher and cultural theorist; Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s coordinating minister for the economy and minister of finance; Samuel H. Preston, Penn professor of sociology and one of the world’s foremost demographers; Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Lonnie G. Thompson, preeminent experts on ice core analysis; James Edward West, co-inventor of the electret microphone.

WHERE:        Franklin Field, 33rd and Spruce streets

WHEN:          May 13, 2013, 8 a.m.

Reporters, photographers and videographers are required to check in by 8 a.m. at the Franklin Field entrance at 33rd and Spruce streets for media credentials.

The procession of honorary-degree recipients and about 5,000 graduates enters Franklin Field at approximately 8:30 a.m. The ceremony will begin at 10:15 a.m. upon the arrival of the academic procession (the University president's party and the faculty) and will conclude at approximately noon.

Everyone entering Franklin Field will be required to go through airport-style magnetometers.  Certain items will be prohibited from Franklin Field, including but not limited to oversized bags, bottles and umbrellas.

A media platform and mult-box will be available. 

Additional information about Commencement is available at http://www.upenn.edu/commencement/event/index.html.