Fairfield University announces the speakers and honorary degree recipients for its 63rd Commencement , taking place on Sunday, May 19, 2013 , on the campus of Fairfield University, in Fairfield, CT. This year's speakers are the Reverend Michael J. Garanzini, S.J., president of Loyola University Chicago and a national figure in Jesuit higher education, who will address the undergraduates, and Dr. Patrick W. Kelley '76, P'12, a director with the U.S. National Academies' Institute of Medicine and Fairfield alumnus, who will speak at the graduate ceremony. The 2013 Commencement takes place on the Bellarmine Lawn and begins at 9:30 a.m. with the undergraduate ceremony, followed at 3 p.m. by the graduate ceremony. Honorary degrees will be awarded to both speakers and three other recipients, Sister Maureen Clark, CSJ , Sister Patricia Farrell , OSF, and William P. McDonald '75.

Reverend Michael J. Garanzini, S.J., Undergraduate Commencement Speaker, is president of Loyola University Chicago and General Secretary for Higher Education for the Society of Jesus. Father Garanzini is active in community service and is known for his work on behalf of children and families. He is a frequent speaker and has published many books and articles on issues such as child and family therapy, moral development, and Catholic education. Prior to becoming president of Loyola, Father Garanzini was a full professor of psychology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he had been special assistant to the president for two years. Before joining Georgetown, Father Garanzini was a professor of counseling psychology at Saint Louis University, and he also held several academic and administrative posts there including serving as academic vice president. Father Garanzini received a doctorate in psychology and religion from the Graduate Theological Union/University of California, Berkeley, and was awarded an honorary doctorate of public service from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Fairfield University.

Patrick W. Kelley '76, P'12, MD, DrPH, Graduate Commencement Speaker, directs the Boards on Global Health and African Science Academy Development at the U.S. National Academies. He has overseen consensus advisory studies on subjects including the evaluation of U.S. foreign assistance for HIV/AIDS, the global problem of substandard and falsified drugs, and global surveillance for infections transmitted between humans and animals. In Africa he works to strengthen the capacity of eight science academies to provide independent, evidence-based advice. In 2003, he retired from a career in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during which he founded the DoD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System, the DoD Accession Medical Standards and Analysis Activity, and edited the first textbook on military preventive medicine in over 60 years. Dr. Kelley obtained his B.S. (cum laude) from Fairfield University in 1976, MD from the University of Virginia, and MPH and DrPH degrees from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Dr. Kelley lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife, Michele (Fairfield '76) and is the father of two adult children, John (Boston College '07) and Maureen (Fairfield '12). He will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Fairfield University.

Fairfield University Honorary Degrees will be bestowed on the following:

Sister Maureen Clark, CSJ , is a Sister of St. Joseph from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sister Maureen worked in the correction system for 13 years in Pittsburgh and then accepted a position in the Massachusetts correctional system, where she has served for the last 26 years. Most of her time in corrections, serving in the capacity of the Catholic Chaplain, has been working with the female offender population. A highlight of her ministry has been in the creation of programs that help reconcile and reunify women with their children and families. She will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Fairfield University at the undergraduate ceremonies.

Sister Patricia Farrell , OSF, LCSW, LMHP, is a Sister of St. Francis of the Holy Family, Dubuque, Iowa. Sister Pat did pastoral work and community organizing in San Antonio, Texas, leading her eventually to 20 years in Latin America, beginning in Chile and ending in El Salvador. She also worked in the behavioral health field with Spanish-speaking people in Chicago, Illinois, and Omaha, Nebraska. She is currently part of the leadership team of the Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque, Iowa, and the immediate past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. She will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Fairfield University at the graduate ceremonies.

William P. McDonald '75, has been with The New York Times since 1988. He has held editorial positions there on the Metropolitan, National, Culture, and Obituary desks. He was part of a team that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for National News, for the series "How Race Is Lived in America," which was also published in book form. As Obituaries editor, he has edited two recent annual collections. He began his career with the Greenwich Time and also worked for Newsday . He is one of four Fairfield graduates from his family. The others are his older brother, James E. McDonald '66, his wife Irene Leopold McDonald '84, and a cousin, Ann McDonald Langan, '74. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Fairfield University at the undergraduate ceremonies.

Tickets will be required for entry. In case of severe weather, the ceremonies will be held in Alumni Hall.

For media credentials (required) , contact: Mike Horyczun at mhoryczun@fairfield.edu , or call (203) 254-4000, ext. 2647.

Posted On: 04-19-2013 11:04 AM

Volume: 45 Number: 271