Providence, RI -- Providence College will award the Veritas Medal to College President Rev. Philip A. Smith, O.P., during the 87th Commencement Exercises to be held on Sunday, May 15, 2005. The award -- the highest honor that the College can bestow -- is being presented for the 14th time since its inception in 1960.

Father Smith, whose eleven-year term as President of Providence College ends at the close of the academic year on June 30, 2005, is being honored for his "lifelong pursuit of Truth and for the enrichment that pursuit of Truth has brought to the College."

Since assuming the presidency of Providence College in 1994, Father Smith has worked to advance the College's reputation, spearheading efforts to dramatically increase the academic quality of the student body and, in turn, attracting and retaining faculty from some of the best colleges and universities in the nation. Academic merit scholarships were introduced; enrollment in the Liberal Arts Honors Program has more than doubled; and independent college guides have ranked PC consistently as one of the top two comprehensive liberal arts colleges in the Northeast.

Father Smith also promoted the investment of $110 million into campus improvements designed to enhance the way students at Providence College live and learn. These include the construction of St. Dominic Chapel and the Smith Center for the Arts; the refurbishment of Raymond Dining Hall and Phillips Memorial Library; major advances in classroom instructional technology; the opening of McPhail's Entertainment Facility; the creation of the Alumni Hall Food Court; and improvements to the locker rooms, athletic offices, and other facilities in Alumni Hall.

The Veritas Medal will be conferred after all undergraduate and graduate degrees have been awarded to members of the Class of 2005. It will be presented by Very Rev. D. Dominic Izzo, O.P., chairman of the Providence College Corporation and Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph.

Three Providence College presidents have been among past recipients of the medal which is presented to acknowledge "outstanding devotion to Providence College." Other recipients have included Rhode Island Congressman John E. Fogarty; Rhode Island Senator John O. Pastore; Raymond L. Flynn, former Boston mayor and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican; and Most Rev. Louis Gelineau, former Bishop of Providence. 

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