Francis has tripled the size of the student body at Xavier, enlarged the school’s curriculum and land holdings, and led a successful science and medicine program.

He has also served as chair of the board of the Educational Testing Services, president of the United Negro College Fund, chair of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and a member of the National Commission on Excellence in Education.

He studied at Xavier as an undergraduate before attending Loyola University Law School.

Francis will receive a Doctor of Letters degree today.

Elliot Forbes ’46

Forbes, who is Peabody professor emeritus of music, has been a fixture at Harvard for almost 50 years. In his time as a professor, he has made his mark on the state of music at the University.

After completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees here, Forbes joined the faculty of Princeton University.

Forbes came back to Cambridge in 1958 to become a professor of music. He also assumed the reins of both the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society (RCS).

Since his return—and especially because of his leadership of Glee Club and RCS—Forbes has guided scores of young singers to successful careers.

He has written histories of music at the University and edited The Harvard Song Book. Forbes has also published numerous works, including the 1964 version of Thayer’s Life of Beethoven.

Forbes will be awarded a doctor of music degree tomorrow.

Ellsworth Kelly

Artist Ellsworth Kelly is known for his exuberance with color. The title of one of his more famous canvasses, Blue Green Yellow Orange Red, says as much. Instead of containing dense, Impressionist detail, his paintings are almost austerely abstract. In Blue, a bright solid shape stands confidently against a white background, setting off a contrast between the hues.

Born in 1923, Kelly studied art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and L’École des Beaux Arts in Paris. While studying in Paris under the G.I. Bill, Kelly became interested in Surrealism, which would inform his later work. He also befriended fellow artists Matisse, Miro, Giacometti and Braque.

Kelly also sculpts in various media and makes collages. In 1999, an exhibition of his drawings was shown at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum. His work also has been exhibited at MOMA, the Whitney and the Guggenheim in New York, MOCA in Los Angeles and the Tate Gallery in London.