Medfield, Mass., resident David Hiltz graduates from Saint Michael's, earns service award

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David Hiltz of Medfield, ctr., with the VP and the President of the St. Mike's senior class

COLCHESTER, VT (05/19/2010)(readMedia)-- David Hiltz, son of David and Nancy Hiltz of Medfield, Mass., earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Saint Michael's College during ceremonies May 13, 2010, on the campus of the liberal arts residential Catholic college in the Burlington area of Vermont.

At a graduation-week banquet, Hiltz, a 2006 graduate of Medfield High School, also was awarded a Community Service Award, presented to seniors who have involved themselves in the activities of the college community and the local community in an exemplary way.

In presenting the award, Senior Class President Amanda Matonis described Hiltz's extensive activity in student government and volunteer work: He was Student Association president as a senior and the group's secretary of communications his sophomore year. David was active in student spiritual retreats and participated in service trips through Edmundite Campus Ministry's MOVE (Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts) office to New Orleans and the Dominican Republic. He was a leader for pre-orientation weekends, worked in the Student Activities office last summer was on the Constitutional Advisory Committee for the Student Association, served on the Athletic Board and volunteered as an elementary school basketball coach in a local school.

Amartya Sen was the featured speaker at the Saint Michael's 103nd commencement. Winner of the 1998 Nobel economics prize for his work on welfare economics, Sen is Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, and was until recently the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. A prolific author, his work has addressed famine, human development theory, welfare economics, poverty, gender inequality and more.

Called "the conscience of the profession" among economists, Sen addressed the 505 students receiving bachelor's degrees and 52 present to receive master's degrees. He said 18th Century economist Adam Smith is often misread and would not champion totally free markets as most claim he would, since a market economy can reap disaster when unregulated. "The implicit faith in the wisdom of the stand-alone market economy, which is largely responsible for the removal of the established regulations in the United States, turned a blind eye towards the activities of [Smith's} 'prodigals and projectors,'" he said, advocating "an appropriate combination of activities of the market and of the state."

For this year's commencement, students wore environmentally "green" recyclable graduation robes for the first time.

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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