Last week the University of Detroit Mercy sent off its latest set of graduates to their next phase of their lives. It wasn’t that long ago when commencement ceremonies were held a bit later in the year and graduates had to follow more compulsory rules to graduate. Check out the notice in the Varsity News, May 8, 1939: Up until 1966, commencement ceremonies were held a month later in June instead of early May like it is now. This changed...
Each year at commencement the University of Detroit Mercy welcomes back former students for a fifty-year class reunion. For the class of 1965, here are a few items they might remember: Maybe they were one of the 8500 who attended one of the last public appearances of Robert Frost at the Memorial building in November 1962. Listen to Johnny Mathis at the 1963 Spring Carnival sing “Misty”. Remember where they were when they heard the news that President...
Is this UD’s youngest graduate? Well, no not really. Not sure how much this little girl remembers that back in June of 1964, she was on hand to help her father, Peter Verkon, receive his Bachelor of Engineering diploma from the President of UD, Rev. Laurence V. Britt S.J. For the graduates of 1964, it was the year President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a “War on Poverty”, the first appearance of the Beatles on “Ed Sullivan Show”, Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr....
Bishop Fulton Sheen made at least two appearances in the Detroit area for Mercy College of Detroit and the University of Detroit. He was one of the speakers for the McAuley Auditorium Series on May 23, 1949. He was presented by Fr. John F. Finnegan of the philosophy department, friend and former classmate. He spoke on the Spiritual Crisis of Our Time and some signs of hope in the crisis. On June 16, 1960, he was given an honorary degree...
The good old days in 1963–gas was 29 cents a gallon, a new car cost $3,200, undergraduate tuition at University of Detroit for full 16 hour credit load was $768. In music the Beatles were just starting to take off with their first album “Please, please me” and some of the popular TV shows included: The Flintstones, Mr. Ed, The Avengers, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. At the 35th Academy Awards, the Oscar went to Lawrence of Arabia for...
University of Detroit Mercy students today know this building as the Gardella Honors House, but the original name of the structure was known as Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine. It was donated by Mr. and Mrs. George A. Gardella, Sr., president of Food Associates of Michigan Inc. Construction was supposed to start in January of 1963, but did not begin until March because of a delay in shipping the marble from Italy for the side walls of the structure. After...
