Emma Stenberg of Barrington, R.I., earns top award & graduates from Saint Michael's College

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Emma Stenberg and Saint Michael’s President John Neuhauser listen to citation being read of Stenberg’s award at the college commencement. Photo by Andy Duback

COLCHESTER, VT (05/27/2010)(readMedia)-- Emma Elizabeth Stenberg, daughter of Maureen Tevyaw of Barrington and Christopher Stenberg of Providence, earned a bachelor's degree in English, summa cum laude, from Saint Michael's College at ceremonies held May 13 on campus of the liberal arts residential Catholic college located in the Burlington area of Vermont. Ms. Stenberg was also awarded the Katherine Fairbanks Memorial Award, which goes to the top woman graduate every year.

The graduates, wearing environmentally "green" commencement gowns, heard an address by Economics Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen of Harvard at the college's 103rd commencement. But before the renowned economist spoke, Jamie Gorton, class-selected senior speaker and summa cum laude graduate, gave an over-the-top Star Wars-themed speech, and then went even more over the top by proposing marriage from the dais before 3,000+ people to his girlfriend Rachel Roy, seated amongst the rest of the graduates.

Ms. Stenberg was cited at commencement for her superb academic achievements. She was called by her professors, "a joy to learn from and to teach." Ms Stenberg was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and into the national Catholic honor society Delta Epsilon Sigma, and the education honor society Kappa Delta Pi. She also served as an RA (resident assistant for the residence hall staff) for three years, was a class of 2010 senator, was a Middle School Mentor, a member of the campus ministry LEAP spiritual community, and went on several extended service trips over spring break.

NOBELIST AMARTYA SEN SPEAKS ABOUT MARKETS & REGULATIONS

Commencement speaker, Amartya Sen, advised Saint Michael's graduates that a market economy can reap disaster when unregulated. Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard University and until recently the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Dr. Sen was the first Indian academic to head an Oxbridge college. His works have profoundly changed the way we understand major aspects of economics, philosophy and the social sciences. He is in fact a transformative thinker of the 21st century.

"A well functioning market economy can, of course, make a huge contribution to the growth of incomes and living standards. And yet, in the absence of sensible regulations, the market can also yield a complete disaster," Professor Sen said. "What we have to work for now is to seek an appropriate combination of activities of the market and of the state."

Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu . Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead successful, purposeful lives that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's College is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns. It is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 371 Colleges, and will be included in the 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Saint Michael's is one of only 270 colleges and universities nationwide, one of only 20 Catholic colleges, with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 100 international students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

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