For Immediate Release April 30, 2002
Contact: Christine Moses 860/297-4285[email protected]
Governor John G. Rowland to be Trinity College's Commencement Speaker at 176th Ceremony***Governor Jane Swift to be Class Day Speaker*** Honorary Degrees to be Awarded
HARTFORD, Conn., April 30, 2002 -- Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland will be the Commencement speaker this year when Trinity College holds its 176th Commencement on Sunday, May 19, 2002 at 2:00 p.m. Approximately 500 undergraduates and 30 graduate students will receive their degrees during Commencement exercises, which will be held on the historic Trinity College quad.
Governor Rowland, who has a long history of public service and leadership, took office as the Governor of Connecticut in 1995 and was re-elected in 1998. In 1980, at the age of 23, he was elected to the Connecticut State Legislature to represent the 3rd Assembly District. He served until 1984, when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives at age 27. He represented the Fifth Congressional District until 1990.
As governor, Rowland has kept responsible budgeting and improving the quality of life in Connecticut as top priorities. Among the many accomplishments for which he is credited are the investment of more than $2 billion in funding to rebuild the state's education system, from pre-school through college, and a landmark commitment to natural resource preservation, from the acquisition of 200,000 additional acres of open space to the aggressive cleanup of Long Island Sound. In addition, Rowland proposed the HUSKY Plan to provide health insurance to an estimated 90,000 uninsured Connecticut children. The HUSKY Plan was implemented in 1998.
Governor Rowland is a highly decorated public servant and has received important public service awards including the Malcolm Baldridge and the Ella T. Grasso awards. He was the first governor to receive the Excellence in State Government award and has received two Yale University Chubb Fellowships and several honorary degrees from local universities. A native of Waterbury, Rowland received his bachelor's degree from Villanova University. In addition to being the Commencement speaker, Rowland will be awarded the Doctors of Laws degree, honoris causa.
Baccalaureate Speaker
Reverend Eugene F. Rivers 3d, an ordained pastor within the Church of God in Christ who serves at the Azusa Christian Community in Boston, will be the speaker at the Trinity College Baccalaureate, which will take place at 10:30 a.m. on May 19, prior to Commencement. Rivers is a nationally recognized community organizer who, along with his wife Jacqueline C. Rivers, founded the National Ten Point Leadership Foundation, a church-based anti-violence group based in Boston. His organization teaches clergy and law enforcement officials how to work together to reduce violent crimes in inner city neighborhoods. This month, Rivers received a grant from the Simon Foundation for social innovation.
Rivers has lectured at many universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. He has also authored or co-authored numerous essays, including On the Responsibility of Intellectuals in an Age of Crack; Beyond the Nationalism of Fools: A Manifesto for a New Black Movement; Black Churches and the Challenge of U.S. Foreign and Development Policy: An Open Letter to the U.S. Black Religious, Intellectual, and Political Leadership Regarding AIDS and the Sexual Holocaust in Africa ; and A Pastoral Letter to President George W. Bush on Bridging our Racial Divide. Rivers will receive the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, at Trinity's Commencement ceremony.
Class Day Speakers
Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift and Frank Deford will be featured speakers at Class Day on Saturday, May 18 at 3p.m. A graduate of Trinity College's Class of 1987, Governor Swift began her career in government in 1991 when, at age 25, she was the youngest woman ever elected to the Massachusetts State Senate. She quickly became the State Senate's youngest woman to serve as the Assistant Minority Leader. As a member of the Senate's Education Reform Conference Committee, she helped craft the historic Education Reform Act of 1993. Swift has served as Director of the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation and as the Director of Regional Airport Development at the Massachusetts Port Authority.
On November 3, 1998, Swift was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. On April 5, 2001, the U.S. Senate confirmed Governor Paul Cellucci's appointment as the U.S. Ambassador to Canada and on April 10, Swift became Governor, an office she will hold until the next election in 2002. She is a corporator of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Swift will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa on Sunday during the Commencement ceremony.
Deford is a contributing writer for Sports Illustrated and has been voted Sportswriter of the Year six times. He has received an Emmy award and a George Foster Peabody Award for his broadcast journalism work. A highly versatile writer, Deford appears as a commentator every week on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. He has authored 13 books that include seven novels, three of which have been made into movies. In addition to his professional activities, Deford has served for the past 15 years as the national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; he is now chairman emeritus. Aside from speaking to the Class of 2002 on Saturday, Deford will also receive the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa on Sunday during the Commencement ceremony.
Additional Honorary Degrees to be Conferred
David Li Kwok-Po, chairman and chief executive officer of The Bank of East Asia, Ltd. Dr. Li joined the Bank of East Asia, Ltd. in 1969 and was elected Chief Executive Officer in 1981, Deputy Chairman in 1995, and Chairman in 1997. In addition to his responsibilities at The Bank of East Asia, he is the director of Dow Jones & Company, Inc., Campbell Soup Company, Cable and Wireless HKT Limited, and The Hong Kong & China Gas Company Limited, among others. Dr. Li will be receiving the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
Ronald R. Thomas, Vice President and Chief of Staff (former Acting President), Trinity College. During his term as acting president, Thomas successfully worked to enhance the academic reputation of the College and to secure Trinity's distinctive position as a great liberal arts college in an urban setting. During his tenure, Trinity was, for the first time, named one of the top ten most selective national liberal arts colleges in the country and enjoyed a seventh consecutive year of record-breaking admissions figures. Under Thomas' direction, a new Web-based recruitment program was introduced, and the College undertook the "Posse" project for urban leadership and diversity. Thomas also continued his direction of the campus master plan, completing and dedicating an award-winning Admissions and Career Services building, completing a complex of three multicultural houses on Vernon Street, commissioning and presenting to the campus a landscape master plan, and commencing construction of the new $34-million Library and Information Technology center --the largest capital project in the history of the College. He launched new global learning sites in Asia, Moscow, and Barcelona and directed a comprehensive market-positioning study for the College as the basis of a complete redesign of all campus publications. Thomas will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
Commencement highlights will be available in a delayed Webcast on the Trinity Website (www.trincoll.edu) beginning on Monday, May 20, 2002 at 4:00 p.m.
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