Children's Defense Fund President and Former Boston Bruin Among Honorees at UMass Boston's 2003 Commencement

By Leigh DuPuy

A nationally renowned advocate for children, a former Boston Bruin whose drive and dedication extend well beyond the rink, the state's first Latino senator, and an Irish man of letters will be honored by the University of Massachusetts Boston at its 35th commencement, to be held on May 31 in the Bayside Exposition Center.

Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Washington D.C.-based Children's Defense Fund, will receive the Chancellor's Medal for Distinguished Service and deliver the keynote address at the ceremony for 1,924 undergraduates and 818 graduate students set to receive their degrees this May.

"Marian Wright Edelman's career should highlight the foundation a university education can provide for a 'life of action,'" said Chancellor Jo Ann M. Gora.

As a lawyer, educator, and reformer, Edelman is best known for her devoted advocacy on behalf of disadvantaged Americans. Finding the Children's Defense Fund in 1973, she has worked tirelessly on behalf of children's welfare, education, rights, and healthcare.

Edelman, a graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School, began her career in the mid-60's when, as the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar, she directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund office in Jackson, Mississippi. Her career includes providing counsel to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Poor People's March and writing seven books, for which she received the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her achievements have earned her top accolades such as the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Prize, the Heinz Award, a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded in 2000. A recipient of an honorary degree from UMass Boston in 1982, she will receive the Chancellor's Medal for her contributions to education, advocacy, and civil rights.

"Commencement is a capstone event in the lives of our graduates," Gora said. "It becomes even more, an integrating experience as well as a celebration, when the speaker is someone who shows by her example that the academic experience can be the basis for a life of action and a life which is whole."
The program will include three others who have dedicated their lives to public service and are models for achievement.

Former Boston Bruins forward Cam Neely will receive a Doctor of Laws degree in recognition not just of his excellence on the ice, but for his service to the Boston community through the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care and the Neely House, which provide support to cancer patients and their families at Tufts-New England Medical Center. The foundation provides shelter as well as support services for families of both adult and pediatric cancer patients undergoing treatment.

Recognized as one of the most popular Boston Bruins, Neely played ten of his 14 NHL seasons for the team. He scored 344 goals for the Bruins and still holds the team's all-time record for playoff goals. He played in five All-Star games and was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1994 as the player who best exemplified the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. He retired from playing hockey in 1996 because of a chronic hip injury and focused his energies on the foundation.

A Doctor of Laws degree will also be conferred on Ionaid G. O. Muircheartaigh, president of National University of Ireland, Galway, for his distinguished career in research, teaching and administration. Muircheartaigh leads a university that enrolls 11,000 students from over 40 countries and offers degrees in arts, science, commerce, engineering, law, medicine, health sciences, and Celtic Studies. Honored as the Sunday Irish Times University of the Year, NUI, Galway boasts of the lowest dropout rate and strong research.

State Senator Jarrett Barrios will receive the Chancellor's Medal for Distinguished Service for his contributions to the Latino community and to mark the occasion last November when the Cambridge Democrat became the first Latino elected to the state senate. Barrios works as state senator for Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Charlestown, Allston, and parts of Revere, Saugus, and Somerville, focusing on housing, childcare, schools, and healthcare access. He previously served two terms in the State House of Representatives since 1998, where he led successful efforts to create a low-income housing tax credit and Massachusetts's first new affordable housing production program in over a decade.

Image: Marian Wright Edelman, president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund, will give the keynote address at UMass Boston's 35th commencement to be held on May 31.

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