Ann Curry, news anchor on NBC's Today Show and a contributing correspondent for Dateline NBC, will be the speaker at Fairfield University's annual dinner for multicultural scholarships on Thursday, April 5, at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers. She will receive Fairfield's Distinguished Leadership Award.

The Fairfield Awards Dinner will also honor the following:

• Jean Larosiliere of Flanders, N.J., Class of 1985, who helped re-establish the rule of law in Haiti, will receive the Alumni Professional Achievement Award.
  
• Kevin Conlisk of Stratford, Conn., Class of 1966 and the driving force behind the Father John M. Conlisk Irish Scholarship Fund, will receive the Alumni Service Award.
  
• John J. Boitano, Ph.D., of Stratford, Conn., professor of psychology and director of the Program in Neuroscience, will receive the Distinguished Faculty Award.

Ann Curry , the daughter of a Japanese mother and Caucasian father, confronted racial prejudice and sexism during her rise to the top of her profession. Known for her genuine empathy for her subjects, she has become one of the most respected journalists on television. She is the winner of two Emmy awards and a four-time recipient of the Golden Mike award. The Associated Press has presented her with several certificates of excellence and she was awarded the NAACP Award for Excellence in Reporting.

Jean Larosiliere , a 1985 graduate of Fairfield University, returned to his native Haiti in 1994 as one of two team leaders of a group of distinguished international jurists and prosecutors that provided emergency legal training to more than 400 judges and prosecutors. Fluent in French and French Creole as well as English, he was an assistant United States Attorney, on leave to the United States Agency for International Development in Haiti, when he helped establish a national training facility in Haiti for prosecutors and judges and drafted legal reform legislation.

At Tulane University School of Law where he earned his degree in 1988, he was a participant and team coach of the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Team that won the national championship. He went on to earn a master of law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and, as a guest of the Republic of France, completed a comprehensive course on the French Criminal Justice System at the Ecole National De La Magistrature.

Mr. Larosiliere, now has his own private law practice in Newark, N.J., specializing in criminal defense and immigration law. He and his wife, Valerie Yearwood, also Class of 1985, live in Flanders, N.J., with their two daughters.

Kevin Conlisk , a 1966 graduate of Fairfield University, is the co-owner and chief financial officer of Alinabal, a diversified manufacturer of industrial products, headquartered in Milford and employing over 300 people.

Since bringing the Father John M. Conlisk Irish Scholarship Fund to Fairfield University in 1991, he has worked tirelessly to support the scholarship, named in memory of his brother, a Bridgeport Diocesan priest for 28 years. In his fundraising activities, Mr. Conlisk has brought Irish artists such as Phil Coulter, John McDermott, and Finbar Wright, among others, to perform in benefits at the Regina A. Quick for the Arts, and oversees the Connecticut Irish Open, held each year at the Brownson Country Club in Huntington, Conn.

His efforts, along with the support of a dedicated Irish Scholarship Committee, have made it possible to bring eight Irish-born students to study at Fairfield University since 1991. Initially a one-year undergraduate study-abroad program, it has now grown to provide scholarship recipients with a full M.B.A. course of study.

Mr. Conlisk majored in accounting at Fairfield and is a Certified Public Accountant. He served as a Navy officer for three years following his graduation. He is a member of the Charles F. Dolan School of Business Advisory Council and served on the Quick Center Advisory Council for four years.

He and his wife, Mary Beth, live in Stratford, Conn., and have two daughters and three grandchildren.

John J. Boitano , Ph.D., a member of the Fairfield University faculty since 1967, is known for involving undergraduate students in his research. Over 40 undergraduates have co-authored papers and presentations with Dr. Boitano and he has inspired countless students to pursue graduate studies, often at the doctoral level. In the summer of 1999, he delivered five lectures in four countries, France, Prague, England and the United States, based, he says, on 12 years of research conducted with undergraduate students.

Dr. Boitano holds the Elizabeth DeCamp McInerney Chair in the Health Sciences at Fairfield University. He has published extensively, received several National Science Foundation grants, and last year was honored with the Eastern Regional Faculty Advisor Award for Psi Chi at the Eastern Psychological Association.

A graduate of Manhattan College, he earned his master's degree and doctorate at Fordham University and was a U.S. Public Health Service Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Rochester's Center for Brain Research. He has spent sabbaticals at Boston State Hospital, Yale University, and the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Boitano and his wife, Linda, live in Stratford and have four children and five grandchildren.

Tickets to the dinner are available through the University's Office of Special Events: (203) 254-4000, ext. 2660.

Posted On: 03-15-2001 09:03 AM

Volume: 33 Number: 150