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HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA (03/11/2014)(readMedia)-- On Sunday, May 11, Hampden-Sydney College will hold commencement exercises marking the end of the College's 239th academic year. Two hundred and fourteen seniors will graduate at 10:00 AM on the lawn of Venable Hall.

Commencement Speaker

Scott Cooper, H-SC Class of 1992

Producer/Director

Cooper, an actor, writer, producer, and director, is a native Virginian who now resides in Los Angeles. The Oscar-winning Crazy Heart marked Cooper's first foray behind the camera as both writer and director. Out of the Furnace, his personal and autobiographical follow up, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way and Ridley Scott's Scott Free, was released on December 6, 2013. Cooper is currently writing a Depression-era crime epic for Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio as well as adapting Stephen King's masterwork, The Stand, also for Warner.

Cooper's acting credits include Sony Pictures Classics release, Get Low, starring his mentor and frequent collaborator, Robert Duvall. Cooper and Duvall have collaborated on four pictures, including Warner Bros. Civil War epic, Gods and Generals.

The Baccalaureate Service will be on Saturday, May 10, at 5:00 PM on the lawn of Venable Hall.

Baccalaureate Speaker

Dr. Robert Michael Franklin, Jr.

Franklin is Senior Advisor for Community and Diversity and James Laney Professor in Moral Leadership at Emory University (Atlanta), and Director of the Religion Department at The Chautauqua Institution (Chautauqua, New York). He is president emeritus of Morehouse College, the nation's largest private, four-year liberal arts college for men, where he served as the tenth president from 2007 through 2012.

He provides commentary for the National Public Radio (NPR) program, "All Things Considered," and weekly commentary for Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasting Television.