Simmons College

Simmons College Commencement 2008

Overview

Commencement 2008 will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at The Bayside Expo Center, 200 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston, Massachusetts. The ceremony will begin promptly at 10 a.m. The doors to Bayside will open to guests at 8:45 a.m. Guests should enter via the South Entrance.

Degree candidates must report to the Bayside Expo Center no later than 8:45 a.m. for lineup. Degree candidates will find directions to their check-in area at the Information Table. Degree candidates should enter via the North Entrance.

Guest speakers and V.I.P.s should enter via the Waterfront Entrance.

The commencement address will be given by:

Bianca Jagger

For a quarter-century, international human rights advocate Bianca Jagger has spoken out against, and taken steps to correct, inhumanities to humankind and to the environment. Currently the Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador, chair of the World Future Council, and chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, she has traveled around the world representing those who cannot speak for themselves.

Over the years, Ms. Jagger has worked to denounce human rights violations in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. As part of a campaign on behalf of indigenous populations in Latin America, including Nicaragua and Brazil, she declared a commitment to help save the tropical rain forests of the Western Hemisphere. She also has traveled to the former Yugoslavia to document the mass rape of Bosnian women by Serbian forces, as part of their ethnic cleansing campaign. In the U.S., Ms. Jagger is a strong advocate for arms control campaigns, and is committed to supporting women’s rights in the face of prejudice and domestic violence.

Ms. Jagger has been widely recognized by many national and international organizations for her work. Her numerous honors and awards include the Amnesty International USA Media Spotlight Award for Leadership; the Office of the Americas Peace and Justice Award; the United Nations Earth Day International Award; the World Achievement Award from Mikhail Gorbachev; and the American Civil Liberties Union Award. Simmons College will present Ms. Jagger with an honorary doctorate for her significant accomplishments.

The following individuals will receive an honorary degree from Simmons College.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault is a highly respected journalist, author, and former national correspondent of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The first African American woman to graduate from the University of Georgia, she quickly established herself as one of television's premier journalists with stints at The New York Times as a reporter and a correspondent with The MacNeil/Lehrer Report.

Craig Cameron Mello, Ph.D., is laureate of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his groundbreaking research on RNA molecules, which provides the potential for understanding and manipulating the cellular basis of human disease. He serves as professor of molecular medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

Marilyn Nelson, poet laureate of the state of Connecticut, is an award-winning author whose books include Carver: A Life in Poems and Fields of Praise. Currently Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, her honors include two Pushcart Prizes and two creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Allyson Schwartz ’70 is a U.S. Congresswoman serving her second term representing Pennsylvania’s 13th district. She previously served in the Pennsylvania State Senate for 14 years and was only the third woman to become part of the 50-member Senate. She is an active mentor to Simmons students through Success Connection and the Simmons Leadership Council.

Margot Stern Strom is executive director of Facing History and Ourselves, a nonprofit educational organization that engages school teachers and their students in an examination of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism by relating the past to the world today. She is an educator, writer, and lecturer and has authored numerous books and educational materials.