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Holy Cross graduates 673 at
the College’s 158 th Commencement
Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, Troy, N.Y., delivered the principal address and
received an honorary degree on Friday, May 28, as Holy Cross
graduated 673 men and women during the College’s 158
th commencement ceremony; the exercises were held in the
Hart Center due to inclement weather.
A theoretical physicist, Jackson received her Ph.D. in theoretical
elementary particle physics from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Cambridge, in 1973. She has held senior positions
in government, as chairperson of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission; in industry, as a theoretical physicist at the
former AT&T Bell Laboratories; and, in higher education,
as a professor of theoretical physics at Rutgers University.
She is president of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific
society and publisher of Science magazine. Jackson is the
first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. from M.I.T.
in any subject area.
In her address to the graduates, Jackson cited the College’s
history to comment on her own experiences. “The story
of the Healys resonates with me,” she said - referencing
James and Patrick Healy - “an African-American
scientist who began her education in the segregated schools
of Washington, D.C., and a university president who believes,
above all, in the power of education to transform lives.
Even more important to me than this revealing piece of history,
is the long tradition at Holy Cross of academic excellence
and its work, in part through the Bishop Healy Committee,
to recruit and retain a diverse population within the Holy
Cross community. And so, I consider it a special privilege
to share in this important day in your lives.”
Speaking about the rapidly changing world that the new graduates
will be inheriting, Jackson said, “Our future will
depend, in large part, on what you know. But even more importantly,
we will come to rely upon the qualities of mind and character
that you have cultivated, and will continue to nurture. The
greatest challenge you will face - and one I believe
you are uniquely prepared to address - will be the
resolution of the ethical dilemmas arising from the increasing
confluence - and sometimes collision - of science,
commerce, and public policy.”
Other individuals receiving honorary degrees at Commencement
were Rev. Michael J. Gillgannon and Richard P. Traina.
Fr. Gillgannon is the founder and director of campus ministry
for the La Paz, Bolivia Archdiocese; he also serves as chaplain
to the State University of La Paz and the La Paz Teachers’ College.
Ordained in 1958, Fr. Gillgannon began his career in campus
ministry in 1962 at Western Missouri State University. In
1966, he served on the advisory committee of the U.S. Catholic
Bishops’ Conference for the post-Vatican II reorganization
of Catholic Campus Ministry in the United States. Since 1974,
Fr. Gillgannon has worked as a missionary in La Paz, serving
as pastor of San Antonio Parish, as episcopal vicar of the
Eastern Deanery of La Paz, and as national chaplain for Bolivian
Campus Ministry.
Richard P. Traina served as the seventh president of Clark
University, from 1984 through 2000. During his tenure, he
oversaw the endowment of three new schools - the Hiatt
School of Psychology, the Higgins School of Humanities, and
the Carlson School of Chemistry - and the number of
endowed chairs for faculty rose from two to provision for
15. It was under Traina’s leadership that Clark helped
establish the Main South Community Development Corporation,
a vehicle organized to stimulate affordable housing and small
business development in Clark’s surrounding neighborhood.
A specialist in American diplomatic history, he first served
on the faculty of Wabash College (1963-74), spending his
last five years there as dean of the college. Subsequently,
he served as the chief academic officer at Franklin and Marshall
College. The author of American Diplomacy and the Spanish
Civil War, he was the co-editor, with Armin Rappaport, of
Present in the Past.
The valedictory address was delivered by Nicole Mortorano
of Fairfield, N.J. A sociology major with an American studies
minor, Mortorano was also co-chair of the Student Government
Association (SGA). During her tenure in office, Mortorano
oversaw such diverse projects as a student-run video rental
store; sexual assault committees, panels and forums; a late
night student safety shuttle; and a community revitalization
project in one of Worcester’s abandoned parks. A member
of the College Honors Program, Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Kappa
Delta (national honor society in sociology), and Alpha Sigma
Nu (Jesuit honor society), Mortorano has been a Dana Scholar
for the past three years. She is also the 2004 recipient
of the Thomas P. Imse Alpha Kappa Delta Award for excellence
in her sociology major. She was the winner of the prestigious
Vannicelli Award, which honors the best research paper produced
in the Washington Semester Program, for her thesis “Cloaked
in the Disguise of Meritocracy: A Structural Analysis of
Schools and Inequality.”
For the past three summers, Mortorano has taught at a free-tuition
academic program called Summerbridge. Last summer, Mortorano
was appointed to the program’s administrative committee,
where she acted as a liaison between the faculty and directors
and taught classes on Chinese immigration to sixth- and seventh-grade
students.
Both her work at the Children’s Defense Fund during
her Washington Semester and her summers at Summerbridge have
prepared and inspired Mortorano for her next challenge, working
for Teach
for America (TFA). TFA is a highly selective program
that gives college graduates with degrees outside of education
the opportunity to teach in low-income rural and urban communities.
After teaching middle school social studies in the Rio Grande
Valley’s public school system for two years, Mortorano
wants to pursue her Ph.D.; she eventually hopes to start
her own charter school.
In her valedictory address, Mortorano called upon her fellow
graduates to be moral leaders in a chaotic world. “As
this season closes in our Holy Cross chapter, I hope all
of us recognize that today is not ‘as good as it gets,’” she
said. “Rather, today testifies to the continuing challenge,
as we as individuals and as a community strive to live up
to our liberal arts mission - a mission rooted in questioning
and evolving. As we reflect upon our identity as Crusaders,
we recognize that Holy Cross’ history and our own have
been defined by the struggle to balance who we are with who
we could be. Embarking toward an uncertain future, I am more
than hopeful that all of us will continue to embrace our
developing notions of truth, identity, and humanity.
“It is (the) courage to speak hard truths and defend
notions of love - in the midst of a culture that may
not always understand - that will define our future
course as teachers, lawyers, doctors, parents, activists,
and visionaries,” Mortorano said. “As we sit
here today, let us be assured that the season has approached
for the Class of 2004; the season has approached for the
College of the Holy Cross. We have the potential to be the
front-runners in a world that is crying for moral leadership.
The call is there … the question is whether we will
continue to answer; the question is whether we will continue
to speak. If the future in any way resembles our past four
years, I have nothing but faith and confidence in our ability
to foster a love that transcends our culture.”
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