Ceremonies at SDSU, USD : Colleges Will Graduate Nearly 9,000

Two major San Diego universities will graduate nearly 9,000 students this weekend in ceremonies scheduled today and Sunday.

University of San Diego commencement exercises will begin with a School of Law program at 10:30 a.m. today. The law school will graduate 327. The ceremony also will honor Eleanor Holmes Norton, Georgetown University law professor and former head of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for her work in civil rights and job discrimination advances.

San Diego State University will begin its commencement ceremonies at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, an hour earlier than in previous years. The graduation program will be held at Aztec Bowl with Philip Habib, President Reagan’s diplomatic trouble-shooter, delivering the commencement address to the 6,106 students receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

SDSU valedictorian is Debbie Kay Viste, 21, of Clairemont, who will continue working for the Logicon Corp. after receiving her degree. She specialized in mathematics and computer sciences, earning a 3.98 grade point average out of a possible 4 points.

USD graduate school ceremonies will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday and undergraduate degrees will be handed out to 725 recipients at 2:30 p.m. All graduation programs will be held at Torero Stadium on the east side of the campus.

The Most Rev. Leo T. Maher, bishop of the San Diego Catholic Diocese, will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree for his contributions to the university and to the community at large during the undergraduate program.

Robert and Dorothy DeBolt, a couple who have raised their own six children and have adopted and raised 14 multiply handicapped youngsters, will receive honorary graduate degrees at ceremonies Sunday morning, when eight doctoral degrees and 209 master’s degrees are to be awarded.