Cornell College will confer degrees on about 300 students at commencement on Saturday, June 2, at 1:30 p.m. in the Richard and Norma Small Multi-Sport Center.

Jim White, professor of philosophy, will give the faculty address.

Darius Ballard of Menomonee Falls, Wis., who is graduating with a double major in biology and secondary education, will be the senior class speaker.

Dick Peterson and Chris Carlson, professors of sociology, and Rep. David Loebsack, D-Iowa, will receive emeriti status. Peterson is retiring after 37 years of service. Carlson is retiring after 27 years at Cornell. Loebsack had been a politics professor at Cornell for 24 years before his election to Congress in November.

Saturday events begin at 9 a.m. with a baccalaureate service in King Chapel. Seniors' words of gratitude for family, friends and mentors will be read at the service. Father Catherine Quehl-Engel, college chaplain, will deliver the sermon.

Cornell's Delta of Iowa chapter of Phi Beta Kappa will hold a reception at 10:30 a.m. in Cole Library. Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and most widely respected academic honor society in the United States. There are 270 chapters in the United States, including seven in Iowa.

After a buffet luncheon from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Cornell seniors, faculty and administrators will assemble at 12:45 p.m. in the Multi-Sport Center for the traditional academic procession that begins the 1:30 p.m. commencement ceremony. The public is invited.