NEW ROCHELLE, NY (05/16/2012)(readMedia)-- On Saturday, May 19, 2012, approximately 1,000 bachelor's and master's degrees will be conferred on graduates of The College of New Rochelle from the School of Arts & Sciences, School of Nursing, Graduate School, and School of New Resources on Saturday, May 19, 2012 in Radio City Music Hall.
Carla Harris, Managing Director, Emerging Manager Platform, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and author of Expect to Win will receive an honorary degree and give the Commencement address.
HONORARY DEGREES:
• Carla Harris, Managing Director, Emerging Manager Platform, Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Ms. Harris began her career in 1987 with Morgan Stanley in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department. She formerly headed Morgan Stanley's equity capital markets for the consumer and retail industries and was responsible for equity private placements. She received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an BA in economics from Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude. Ms. Harris has been selected by Fortune magazine as one of the "The 50 Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America" and by Essence Magazine as one of "The 50 Women Who are Shaping the World' among other national magazine recognitions. She is the bestselling author of Expect to Win. She is also a singer, having recorded two albums, Carla's First Christmas and a CD of gospel music entitled, Joy is Waiting.
• Wynton Marsalis, internationally acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader, and educator will play a short musical selection in addition to receiving an honorary degree.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1961, he began studying the trumpet seriously at age 12 and two years later he was invited to perform the Haydn Trumpet Concerto with the New Orleans Philharmonic. His prominent position in American culture was solidified in 1997 when he became the first jazz artist to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work Blood on the Fields, which was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has served as the arts organization's artistic director as well as music director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since its inception. Among his many honors and achievements, in 2001 the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan proclaimed Marsalis an international ambassador of goodwill. He has also received a citation from the United States House of Representatives for his outstanding contribution to the arts.
• Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, Permanent Observer of The Holy See to the United Nations, will offer the invocation and benediction at Commencement and receive an honorary degree. Born in Bolghatty, India, Archbishop Chullikatt was ordained in 1978, and completed his Doctorate in Canon Law in 1988. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in the same year and was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Iraq and Jordan in 2006 and was appointed Permanent Observer to the UN in 2009. In his career, Archbishop Chullikatt has also served at the Apostolic Nunciatures in Honduras, to various countries of southern Africa, and the Philippines, at the Mission to the United Nations in New York, and at the Secretariat of State in the Vatican. He is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Latin.
New Rochelle residents who are graduating as undergraduates are:
Rosemond Appreku
Veronica Ann Archer
Zelalem Tadesse Argaw
April Elizabeth Bagley
Denise V. Campbell
Seena Chirapuram
Rosa Q. Collado
Gina Faith Conti
Cherchill-Anne Corrales
Christine Anne Cossa
Melissa Cuevas
Valerie Ann Dicks
Kerline Dieudonne
Shatawn Ferguson
Brenna Jean Guerrino
Diane Hernandez
Jazmine Monique Hill
Nicole Lynn Julian
Anna S. Kurian
Kelita A. Lugg
Andrea Karina Martinez
Yshak Martinez
Erica Simone McLennan
David Vincent Meynard
Markeia Darae Miller
Esther Ngozi Njoku
Genna Lauren Petre
Jacqueline A. Pfaff
Axa J. Quijada
New Rochelle Graduate Students are:
Maria Hermila Barajas
Nikki Arevalo Baybay
Abby Marie Benedetti
Grisel Blanco
Christa Brennan
Kyle E. Falvey
Nicole Diana Fanelli
Rebecca Lyn Gillam
Christine Grogan
Kai-Ying Huang
Sugey M. Lara
Megan Eileen Larkin
Margaret F. Lewis
Manuel Mirabal
Janet Lee Rohan
Brian C. Rosa
Diana Marie Ruffino
Silvia Ruiz
Elizabeth Anne Smith
Peridot Ann Smith
Kimberly Mary Warek
Talia Josie Woolfe
Katrina Alyssa Zagroba