SANTA ANA : Commencement Set at Rancho Santiago

More than 950 graduating students will receive diplomas at commencement ceremonies Thursday evening at Rancho Santiago College.

The ceremonies will feature presentations of the school’s Hall of Fame Award to alumni Ed Caruthers, a silver medalist at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and Lavinia C. Knight, an award-winning publisher.

Although Caruthers and Knight won’t be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame until homecoming weekend next fall, they will be recognized during the commencement ceremonies for having brought distinction to themselves, their community, their profession and the school, college officials said.

Caruthers, who attended the college from 1963 to 1965, received worldwide recognition in 1968 when he won a silver medal for the high jump at the Olympic Games in Mexico City.

He first received national attention while still a student at Rancho Santiago College--then Santa Ana College--when he became national champion in the high jump and qualified for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, where he placed fifth in the event.

Caruthers was also the winner of the NCAA high jump championship after transferring to the University of Arizona, and won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Montreal. He now works with special-education students in the Garden Grove Unified School District.

Knight earned her degree from the college in 1930, when she was editor of the Santa Ana College yearbook. She went on to finish her studies at Occidental College.

Knight recently was named the first recipient of the Society for California Archaeology’s Special Achievement Award for her lengthy publishing career, which includes more than 20 years as editor of the Pacific Coast Archaeological Society’s Quarterly, a principal source of information for research into Orange County’s history.

Marcie Reynolds-Hutton, an earth science major, will be honored as valedictorian for the class of 1991.

The ceremonies will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Cook Gymnasium.