Commencement 2009: Optimism amid global challenges
By Karen Ayres Smith and John Chadwick

Graduation day got off to a great start for Yinghsang Liu.
The native of Taiwan, who has spent the last seven years studying for a doctorate in communication, information, and library studies, received a job offer – a faculty position at Charles Sturt University in Australia – hours before the ceremonies began on May 20.

He said he would likely take the job. “I am very excited by the opportunity there,” Liu said, as he stood beaming in his cap and gown minutes before graduates began to proceed into Voorhees Mall on the New Brunswick Campus.

Liu was one of about 11,433 graduates to celebrate commencement this year at the universitywide ceremony and more than two dozen convocation ceremonies across the Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick campuses.