Proud parents and friends joined graduates who braved the snow and ice to attend Lehigh's final winter commencement ceremony Sunday afternoon.

Barbara Traister, professor of English, quoted scientist Sir Isaac Newton in her commencement address: “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.”

"You are standing now on the shoulders of giants," she told the graduates. "On this day, Lehigh's last winter commencement, your own commencement, I salute you. It's on your shoulders that the future will stand."

For the full text of Traister's speech, click here

A total of 439 students from the university's four colleges received their diplomas, including international students from Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil, France, Israel, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey. These included 157 bachelor's degrees, 39 doctoral degrees, and 215 master's degrees. Gregory Farrington, president of Lehigh, conferred the degrees.

While the winter commencement ceremony is being eliminated after this year, the number of times each year that degrees are conferred is being increased to three. Starting with the next academic year, there will be one commencement ceremony in May, but degrees also will be conferred in January and September.

--Elizabeth Shimer