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May 7, 2008
U.S. SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ AND JAZZ PIANIST BILLY TAYLOR TO RECEIVE HONORARY DEGREES WHEN WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY HOLDS COMMENCEMENTON MAY 20
—Joyce Powell, M.A. ’80, president of NJEA, to receive President’s Medal
—Senator Menendez will be commencement speaker; Taylor will perform
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez and the legendary jazz performer Billy Taylor will receive honorary degrees during William Paterson University’s 185th commencement ceremonies on Tuesday, May 20, 2008. Joyce Powell, president of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), a 1980 graduate of William Paterson with a master’s degree in urban education and community affairs, will receive the President’s Medal.
Separate ceremonies will be held for undergraduate and graduate students. The commencement ceremony for undergraduate students will begin at 10:30 a.m., and will be held on Wightman Field; the rain date is May 21. The graduate ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. in the Recreation Center, and will take place rain or shine.
At the undergraduate ceremony, Menendez will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree and will be the commencement speaker. Taylor, a legendary jazz performer, composer, educator, and author, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters and will perform. President Arnold Speert will address the graduating class along with Tamara Issak, a graduating senior and honors student. Issak, a resident of Wayne, will receive a bachelor of arts degree in English, summa cum laude, as well as teaching certification in secondary education. Stanley Wollock, professor of elementary and early childhood education, will lead the procession in the role of University marshal.
At the graduate ceremony, Powell will be the speaker and will receive the President’s Medal, which is given for outstanding service to the University community, academe, or society as a whole. President Speert will address the candidates, along with Priyadarshini Ravichandran of Congers, N.Y., president of the Graduate Student Organization at William Paterson, who will receive a master of arts degree in public policy and international affairs.
Bachelor’s degrees will be conferred upon 1,750 undergraduates, all of whom have completed their degree requirements between August 2007 and May 2008. Master’s degrees will be conferred on 303 students who completed their degree requirements between August 2007 and May 2008.
Alumni from the Class of 1958, who graduated when William Paterson was called New Jersey State Teachers College at Paterson, will be present at the morning ceremony and attend a 50th reunion luncheon sponsored by the Alumni Relations Office. The Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Chapter will host a Senior Send-Off reception on Monday, May 19 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the University Commons.
Menendez was appointed to the U.S. Senate by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, and was sworn in to the Senate on January 18, 2006. In November of that year, he was elected to serve a full six-year term as United States Senator. He currently serves on the Senate Committees on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Energy and Natural Resources; Budget; and Foreign Relations. He is also the Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection.
Previously, Menendez served as a school board member, the mayor of Union City, and a state legislator. Since 1992, he has been fighting for New Jersey families in Washington, where he rose to become the third-highest ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives. Elected by his colleagues in 2002 as the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, he became the highest-ranking Hispanic in Congressional history. He previously served as the vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus and has led key Task Forces on Education and Homeland Security. He received his B.A. from St. Peter's College in Jersey City and his law degree from Rutgers University.
Taylor's recording career spans nearly six decades. He has also composed more than 350 songs, including “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free,” as well as works for theatre, dance and symphony orchestras. He began playing the piano professionally in 1944 with Ben Webster’s Quartet on New York's famed 52nd Street. He then served as the house pianist at Birdland, the legendary jazz club where he performed with such celebrated masters as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Since the 1950s, he has led his own trio, as well as performing with the most influential jazz musicians of the twentieth century.
In addition to being recognized as an influential musician, Taylor is a highly regarded educator who holds a doctorate in music education from the University of Massachusetts. He also is known for his work on “CBS Sunday Morning” and National Public Radio, including hosting “Billy Taylor’s Jazz from the Kennedy Center.” One of only three jazz musicians appointed to the National Council of the Arts, he holds more than two dozen honorary doctoral degrees, two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, a Grammy and a host of prestigious and highly coveted prizes, such as the National Medal of Arts, the Tiffany Award, a Lifetime achievement Award from Downbeat Magazine, and, election to the Hall of Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education. Now in his eighties, and officially retired from active touring and recording, he remains active with his educational activities and a full schedule of speaking engagements and appearances on radio and television.
Powell is president of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). She previously served as NJEA vice president and secretary-treasurer. She was the host of “Classroom Close-up, NJ,” NJEA’s Emmy Award-winning weekly TV show airing on NJN from 2001-2005, featuring stories on innovative public school programs and current issues facing New Jersey educators.
Currently on leave from her position as a teacher and chairperson of the Special Education Department at Vineland High School South, Powell has been an advocate for the advancement of educational opportunities for students with special needs. She began her teaching career in 1973 as a teacher of emotionally disturbed children at the Barse Elementary School in Vineland and spent the next seven years teaching in elementary schools throughout the district. Since 1980, Powell has taught computer math, English, vocational training, health, and inclusion U.S. history at Vineland High School South.
Powell serves on several committees of the National Education Association, and is an elected vice-president of the National Council of State Education Associations, representing nine Northeast states. A founding member of the New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning, she is a member of New Jersey’s Professional Teaching Standards Board and is the only classroom teacher appointed to the N. J. State Department of Education's Comprehensive System of Personnel Development. She has received many honors and awards, including the Governor's Teacher Recognition Award in 1991. In 2007, she was named one of New Jersey’s 100 Most Influential People by Politics N.J.. A graduate of Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), she earned a master's degree in urban education and community affairs from William Paterson University in 1980.
William Paterson University, one of the nine state colleges and universities in New Jersey, offers 38 undergraduate and 19 graduate programs through five colleges: Arts and Communication, the Cotsakos College of Business, Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Health. Located on 370 hilltop acres in Wayne, the university enrolls nearly 10,500 students and provides housing for nearly 2,700 students. The institution’s 373 full-time faculty are highly distinguished and diverse scholars and teachers, many of whom are recipients of prestigious awards and grants from the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the American Philosophical Society.
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www.wpunj.edu
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