AT UMASS AMHERST, BIRDS AND BUBBLY - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

AMHERST - A sea of black caps and gowns framed on two sides bycolorful umbrellas in the stands of the Warren P. McGuirk Stadiumrose spontaneously yesterday as degrees were conferred on students ineach school of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Nursing students released homing pigeons, future engineers heldtheir chairs aloft, and liberal arts majors sprayed each other withchampagne.

Chancellor David Scott told the 4,000 graduates that they werejoining an elite group. 'One percent of the world's population' holdsa bachelor's degree, he said. More people will need a collegeeducation as knowledge becomes the center of an information society,said Scott, who noted that the university sent 21 graduates into theworld in 1900.

Despite intermittent drizzle, 18,000 relatives and friends cheeredthe class of 2000. Among them was Mary Gayle, who flew from Jamaicato see her grandson, Howard Webley, get a degree in microbiology.

'My dream for years was fulfilled today,' said Gayle, while posingfor snapshots after the ceremonies ended. During visits from theCaribbean each summer to her family in the Bronx, Gayle would plasterthe walls of her grandson's room with educational material,instructing her family not to remove anything until she returned toupdate it.

Webley, 22, is returning to New York City, where he hopes to get ajob with the US Food and Drug Administration.

Among the honorary-degree recipients was 1965 UMass-Amherstalumnus Jeffrey Davidow. He became the US ambassador to Mexico twoyears ago after Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman JesseHelms, refused to schedule hearings on President Clinton's firstchoice for the job, former Massachusetts governor William F. Weld.

The commencement address was delivered by tennis great Billie JeanKing who, in addition to winning 20 Wimbledon titles, six of them insingles, is known for defeating Bobby Riggs in a 1973 match billed asthe 'Battle of the Sexes.'

King received an honorary doctorate of humane letters. She urgedthe graduating seniors to take responsibility for their actions.

'Every ball that comes to me is a decision,' said King likeninglife to a tennis match. 'That's what sports teaches us, to put it onthe line and live with it.'

Besides King and Davidow, honorary degree recipients were EdgarSmith, former UMass vice president for academic affairs, and class of1950 alumnus Eugene Isenberg. Smith now directs a Mississippi programto improve public access to health care. Isenberg, the chairman andCEO of Nabors Industries Inc., in 1997 gave the university $6 millionfor capital improvements in what is now the Isenberg School ofManagement. It was the largest gift in the university's history.

In commencement exercises on Saturday, when master's and doctoraldegrees were conferred on 1,300 candidates, honorary degrees werepresented to South African freedom fighter Ahmed Kathrada, who wasimprisoned for 26 years with Nelson Mandela; Bruce Penniman, 1999Massachusetts teacher of the year; and Evan Dobelle, president ofTrinity College in Hartford.