i
T
DUQH
Students Become Professionals
Two hundred and fifty-nine new
health professionals are expected to
receive degrees Sunday as the
university celebrates commencement
at 3 p.m. in Wallace Wade Stadium.
About 73 physicians, 85 nurses, 35
health administrators, 16 physical
therapists, 36 physician's associates,
nine medical technologists and five
pathology assistants will be among
the more than 2,000 men and women
to graduate.
Secretary of Commerce Juanita M.
Kreps will give the commencement
address. At the time of her
appointment to President Carter's
cabinet, she was a Duke vice
president and James B. Duke
professor of economics and currently
is on leave of absence.
Honorary Degrees
The university wiU award four
honorary doctorates. Recipients will
be:
— Diplomat George F. Kenan,
Doctor of Laws. A historian as well
as diplomat, he was one of the first
Americans stationed in Moscow
after the U.S. and the Soviet Union
resumed diplomatic relations in
1933. He has won two Pulitzer prizes
and two National Book Awards.
— Dr. N. Ferebee Taylor,
chancellor of the University of North
Carolina, Doctor of Laws. A UNC
graduate and former Rhodes Scholar,
he was a lawyer in New York City
before returning to Chapel Hill in
1970 to take a post in the UNC
General Administration. He became
chancellor in 1972.
— Dr. Lewis C. Dowdy, chancellor
of North Carolina A & T University
in Greensboro, Doctor of Laws. He
has been the chief executive of A & T
since 1964 and is active in
Greensboro civic affairs as well as
national educational organizations.
— Entertainer Perry Como, Doctor
of Humane Letters. His affiliation
Intercom
Duke University Medical Center
VOLUME 24, NUMBER 18
MAY 6,1977
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Chaplain's Tools' Include Teamwork, Love
By John Becton
When he talks about his patient
care ministry. Chaplain White
Iddings talks a lot about love,
support, relationships and team
work.
When he talks about his upcoming
retirement, he doesn't have much to
say about it. That's because at the
young age of 72, he has only
scheduled one month for retirement
before his next venture. (As a
church-supported chaplain and not a
Duke employee, he was not
obligated to retire at 65.)
Iddings retired May 1, after 12
years as a chaplain at the hospital
and 35 previous years in the puish
ministry.
Beginning June 1, he will assume a
new position in development and
public relations for Lenoir-Rhyne
College, his alma mater.
Happy, Rewarding Success
"The parish ministry was
rewarding, but there was a longing
for a more specialized ministry,"
Iddings said of his decision to enter
the hospital chaplaincy.
"These past 12 years have been
cunong the happiest, most rewarding
and most successful of my entire
ministry," he said.
The hospital chaplain ministers to
the diverse needs of patients and
their families. For Iddings that has
meant a great deal of counseling, but
has included performing baptisms,
administering Holy Communion
and conducting marriages and
funerals.
His ministry also has been
extended to hospital personnel, for
whom he has been a counselor,
pastor and "father figure."
Establishing Relationship
The Lutheran minister said he was
in this profession "primarily because
m
\
WHITE IDDINGS
I love people and I love myself. This
kind of projection helps establish
relationships with patients, as well
as medical and nursing personnel."
It is not uncharacteristic for
Iddings to tell a patient, "You know
God loves you. But I want to tell you
that I love you."
He related the story of a terminally
ill patient who, 20 minutes before his
death replied to this by saying, "That
is what I was trying to say to you."
Ministering to the families of
terminally ill patients is probably the
greatest challenge for the hospital
chaplain, Iddings said.
He said that introducing a sense of
hopefulness is important, but it
needs to be balanced with an
acceptance of the reality of the
situation.
"It is a beautiful experience to talk
with terminally ill patients who have
come to a degree of acceptance of
their condition," Iddings said.
(Continued on page 3)
with Duke goes back three decades,
from concerts to support of the
Poison Control Center and the
celebrity golf program that raises
funds to battle children's diseases.
Saturday Events
The graduation exercises will
climax the commencement^eekend
activities that begin Saturday at 9
a.m. with the annual meeting of
Duke's Board of Trustees.
At 10:30 a.m. the School of
Medicine will hold the traditional
Hippocratic Oath Ceremony in Duke
Chapel.
The School of Nursing will hold its
Recognition Service in the Chapel at
12:30 p.m.
A Baccalaureate Service for
recipients of advanced degrees will
be held Saturday at 3 p.m. in the
Chapel. Dr. Harmon L. Smith,
professor of moral theology in the
Divinity School and professor of
health sciences in the Medical
School, will deliver the sermon.
A reception honoring M.D.
graduates will begin at 4 p.m. on the
lawn in front of the west entrance to
the Davison Building.
The School of Nursing will host a
reception in the Mary Duke Biddle
Music Building on East Campus at 6
p.m.
Graduates of the Master of Science
in physical therapy program were
honored at a dinner at the Country
Squire on Thursday evening.
Schedule on Sunday
Split baccalaureate services will be
held for undergraduates Sunday at 9
and 11 a.m. in the Chapel. Bishop
James Armstrong, ecclesiastical
leader of United Methodists in the
Dakotas area, will deliver the
sermons.
Immediately following the 3 p.m.
graduation exercises, diplomas will
be distributed at various locations on
campus.
The medical and nursing schools
will distribute M.D. and B.S.N.
(Continued on page 4)
Wood-Cutting Prof
Honored for Effort
Dr. Paul Killenberg, assistant
professor of gastroenterology, was
named one of seven Key Volunteers
for 1977 in a recognition program
co-sponsored- by the Volunteer
Services Bureau and the Durham
Morning Herald. He received a
plaque at the fourth annual volunteer
recognition luncheon at Duke
Memorial United Methodist Church,
April 26.
Killenberg was named in the
"Concerned Individual" category for
his contributions to the local drive to
provide fuel for needy families
caught in the heating crunch during
the unnaturally cold months of the
past winter.
Using a Christmas gift chain saw,
he and his Boy Scout Troop
organized a wood-cutting program.
They participated in the com
munity program, then continued on
their own as long as there was need.
He was responsible for starting the
larger Duke Forest wood-cutting
effort and he provided "not only
ideas, but great amounts of his own
perspiration" to it, his nomination
said.
The volunteers were invited to join
other volunteers across the state in a
recognition reception, April 29,
given by Gov. and Mrs. Jim Hunt at
ttie Governor's Mansion.