Commencement 2006

Holy Cross graduates 697 at the College’s 160th Commencement

Bob Wright ’65, chairman and chief executive officer of NBC Universal and vice chairman and executive officer of the General Electric Company, delivered the principal address and received an honorary degree on May 26, as Holy Cross graduated 697 men and women during its 160th commencement ceremony.

Wright has had one of the longest and most successful tenures of any media company chief executive. Under his leadership, NBC was transformed from a broadcast network into a global media powerhouse, with leadership in broadcast network television, cable programming, station ownership and television production. With the formation of NBC Universal, Wright heads one of the most rapidly growing and profitable media and entertainment companies in the world.  

A former Trustee of the College, Wright has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame; he serves on the boards of the American Film Institute, the Museum of Television and Radio and the Motion Picture and Television Fund Corporation. Wright has worked closely with the Archdiocese of New York on raising support for inner-city Catholic schools and other projects. He is also co-founder (with his wife, Suzanne) of Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to raising awareness and funding to find answers to the causes of autism.

In his address, Wright congratulated the graduating students on earning “the gift” of a Holy Cross education.

“It’s an education that made you ask the hard questions,” said Wright. “It’s an education that opened up your minds and your hearts. It’s an education that—in the best spirit of the liberal arts and Jesuit traditions—showed you what it means to live the examined life and a life of service.”

Other individuals receiving honorary degrees at Commencement were: Anne M. Burke; Rev. Angelo D'Agostino, S.J., M.D.; Sister Carol Keehan, D.C.; and David McCullough.

Anne Burke, the first district judge of the Appellate Court of Illinois, served for more than two years as interim chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops National Review Board—initiating and investigating studies into the root causes of clergy sexual abuse and establishing guidelines and policies for effectively responding to this issue.   Before her appointment to the Appellate Court, she was special counsel to the Illinois Governor for Child Welfare Services.

Fr. D’Agostino is the founder and medical director of the Nyumbani home in Africa. Before joining the Jesuits in 1955, he was a U.S. Air Force surgeon. During his novitiate, Fr. D’Agostino became interested in psychiatry and, upon completing his training, practiced and taught psychiatry in Washington, D.C. Suspending his practice when the Society of Jesus asked for volunteers to work in Thailand with Indochinese refugees, he directed a medical facility at a refugee camp there. For many years, Fr. D’Agostino continued his refugee work as coordinator of the Jesuit Refugee Service, establishing programs in Sudan, Ethiopia, Zaire and Tanzania. While directing a retreat house in Africa, he saw firsthand the growing AIDS crisis and the number of HIV-infected children who were orphaned and suffering without even minimal services or care. In 1992, Fr. D’Agostino founded Nyumbani (“home,” in Swahili) in Nairobi for abandoned children. Today, his work has grown to include a community-based outreach program, providing services to thousands of HIV-infected children and their families; and the self-sustaining Nyumbani Village, a community serving orphans and elders who have been left behind by the “lost generation” of the AIDS pandemic.
 
Sr. Keehan is president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association, the largest not-for-profit provider of health care services in the nation. She has worked in administrative and governance positions at hospitals sponsored by the Daughters of Charity for more than 35 years and has held influential leadership roles in a variety of health care, insurance and educational organizations. In addition, Sr. Keehan has served on the board of directors of many entities, including the District of Columbia Hospital Association, Care First/Blue Cross of Maryland and the National Capital Area, and St. John's University. Past chair of the Florida State Human Rights Advocacy Commission, she served 15 years as the president and chief executive officer of Providence Hospital, which includes Carroll Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Washington, D.C. Sr. Keehan earned her bachelor of arts degree in nursing at St. Joseph’s College in Emmitsburg, M.D., and her master’s degree in business administration at the University of South Carolina, Columbia.

David McCullough, a widely published biographer and historian, is the author of many books, including 1776, John Adams, The Great Bridge, The Path between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, Brave Companions and Truman; none of his books has ever been out of print. A two-time recipient of the most prestigious prizes in book publishing—the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize—he has been called a “master of the art of narrative history.” During his career, McCullough has been an editor, essayist, teacher, lecturer and familiar presence on public television as the host of Smithsonian World and The American Experience, and narrator of numerous documentaries, including The Civil War and Napoleon.

This year’s valedictory address was delivered by Timothy O’Brien ’06 of King of Prussia, Pa. A political science major with a concentration in Latin American  and Latino Studies, O’Brien took part in the College Honors Program. A member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Sigma Nu honor societies, he was also a recipient of the Charles A. Dana Scholar for Leadership and Scholarship award.

Last semester, O’Brien was selected by the College’s Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies as one of two recipients of the Vannicelli Washington Semester Program Award for his thesis: “From Pittsburgh to Providence: God, Justice Kennedy, and Judicial Behavior.” He subsequently used his Washington experience as a springboard for his senior thesis, “The Constitution of Self-Development: The Jurisprudence of Anthony M. Kennedy.”
Co-chair of the Appalachia Service Project, O’Brien had been a senator at large in the Student Government Association Senate and an SGA director of policy. He was also a resident assistant and a student representative on several faculty-student committees.

Read O’Brien’s valedictory address >