Students and Honorary Degree Recipients to be Honored |
On Saturday, June 3, the collective achievement of more than 2,400 UMass Boston students will be on display during the Commencement celebration for the class of 2000. The ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. and will be held at the Bayside Exposition Center. All UMass Boston faculty and staff are encouraged to attend and will be admitted with a University identification card.
Included in the festivities of the day will be the presentation of the Commencement address by Reverend Ray A. Hammond, pastor of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain. Rev. Hammond, who will also receive an honorary degree, has been described by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino as "a hero of the neighborhoods." Both as chairman of the Ten Point Coalition, which is an ecumenical group of Christian clergy and lay leaders working to mobilize the Christian community around issues affecting black youth, and also as founder of the church where he is pastor, Hammond works to reach youth in his fight against violence and drug abuse. He has held leadership roles in a number of other organizations, these include the United Way, which he serves as a member of the Success by Six leadership council, and the Boston Plan for Excellence and Catholic Charities, both of which he serves as a trustee.
Two representatives of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina will also be given UMass Boston honorary degrees at Commencement. Both Estela Barnes de Carlotto, a recipient of the French Legion of Honor award in 1999 and current president of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, and Vice President Rosa Tarlovsky de Roisinblit will receive the degrees. Their organization was formed in 1977 and is devoted to the identification and return of children kidnapped during the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. It is estimated that during this period 30,000 people "disappeared" in a manner ensuring that the state's enemies would vanish without becoming martyrs. Through their work the Grandmothers are responsible for the creation of the National Genetic Data Bank, the only bank of its kind in the world, in which relatives of missing children can store their blood to allow positive identification to be made after their death. In addition, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo helped create Article 8 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the "right to identity"--a newly recognized human right.
A strong advocate for progressive causes in Boston, businessman Robert Glassman, will receive an honorary degree as well. As co-founder and co-chairman of Wainwright Bank and Trust Company, Mr. Glassman holds a position of leadership in Boston's philanthropic and corporate-giving community, and has been widely recognized for his active concern for social justice. He currently serves as director of the Trillium Asset Management Corporation and chairman of the Boston Foundation's Investment Committee; is a member of the Board of Directors of UMass Boston's William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences; and is co-founder and director of the William Joiner Foundation. A recipient of the 1997 AIDS Action Committee's Distinguished Leadership Award and the 1998 Institute of Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee, Glassman holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and also served as a platoon leader in Vietnam.
While there are other distinguished candidates who are being considered by the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees to receive honorary degrees, none had been formally chosen as of press time for the University Reporter.
Those unable to attend the ceremonies in person can listen to a radio broadcast of the Commencement address on WUMB, 91.9 FM, Sunday, June 4, at 8 p.m., immediately following "Commonwealth Journal."