|
WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY TO HOLD COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES ON MAY 19
--Ben Jones ’63, internationally renowned artist, to receive President’s Medal
--Carla Temple, former member of University Board of Trustees; Peter Fan, outgoing member of Board of Trustees; and Bonnie Watson Coleman, assemblywoman and majority leader, New Jersey General Assembly, to receive honorary degrees
Ben Jones, a 1963 graduate of William Paterson University and an award-winning New Jersey artist, will receive the President’s Medal, and Carla Temple, former member of the University’s Board of Trustees, Peter Fan, outgoing member of the Board of Trustees, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, assemblywoman and majority leader, New Jersey General Assembly, will receive honorary degrees as part of the University’s 186th commencement ceremonies on Tuesday, May 19, 2009.
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 20. The graduate ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. in the Recreation Center, and will take place rain or shine.
At the undergraduate ceremony, Jones will receive the President’s Medal. Temple will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree and Fan will receive an honorary doctor of science degree. President Arnold Speert will address the graduating class along with Stephanie Staiano, a graduating senior and honors student. Staiano, a resident of Voorhees, will receive a bachelor of science degree in business administration, magna cum laude. Diana Peck, professor of communication, will lead the procession in the role of University marshal.
At the graduate ceremony, Watson Coleman will be the speaker and will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. President Speert will address the candidates, along with Brian Propfe of Randolph, president of the Graduate Student Organization at William Paterson, who will receive a master of education degree in counseling.
Bachelor’s degrees will be conferred upon 1,707 undergraduates, all of whom have completed their degree requirements between August 2008 and May 2009. Master’s degrees will be conferred on 314 students who completed their degree requirements between August 2008 and May 2009.
Alumni from the Class of 1959, 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 18 at 7 p.m. in the University Commons.
Jones, who defines himself as a "social-activist-artist," has been a professor at New Jersey City University since 1967. His work has explored spirituality, politics, religion, and African culture through painting, sculpture, and mixed media artwork for more than 40 years. The Jersey City Museum recently presented “Deliverance,” a retrospective exhibit of Jones’s work; in a review, the New York Times said that Jones “has chosen to spend the better part of his career making art according to imperatives that have nothing to do with artistic fashion. That takes dedication.”
Temple served on the William Paterson Board of Trustees from 1999 to 2008. During her tenure on the board, she served as vice chair, secretary, chaired the personnel committee and the committee on trustees and nominations, and was a member of the executive committee and the educational policy committee. Temple recently retired after more than 30 years at State Farm, where she was the vice president of operations and vice president of agency for State Farm Insurance Company in New Jersey. She also served as chief operating officer and a member of the board of State Farm Indemnity Company in New Jersey. In addition, Temple was a member of the Morris County Business Cabinet, the board of the New Jersey Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund, the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce and a former member of the Board of Trustees at Jersey Battered Women’s Service. A graduate of the University of Illinois, she earned a master’s degree from Illinois State University and her juris doctorate from the University of Illinois.
Fan, who joined the University’s Board of Trustees in 1999, is stepping down in June. While on the board, he served as chair of the committee on trustees and nominations, and as a member of the finance and audit committee, and the personnel committee. A senior attending surgeon at Hackensack University Medical Center, Fan is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He is the inventor of the E-Z Clean Laparoscopic Cautery Probe. Fan has participated in several consulting visits to medical centers in China on technique and equipment for laparoscopic surgery. He earned a B.A. from Oxford University, an M.A. from Oxford University, and an M.D. from Oxford University Medical School. Watson Coleman is the majority leader of the New Jersey General Assembly. She is the highest ranking African American and woman in the State Legislature, the first African American woman to serve as majority leader, and the first woman to hold the position since 1964. Watson Coleman, who represents the 15th legislative district, began her first term in the New Jersey General Assembly in 1998. She served as chairwoman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee from 2002 through 2005. A tireless advocate for civil rights, children, and disadvantaged families throughout her professional and legislative careers, she has authored a wide variety of laws ranging from protecting consumers to combating domestic violence to combating criminal street gangs. Prior to her election, she worked in New Jersey state government in a variety of managerial capacities for more than 28 years, retiring in July 1995. During her career in executive-branch service, Ms. Watson Coleman initiated a number of innovative programs.
Watson Coleman serves on the board of directors of the New Jersey Public Policy Research Institute, Museum of Contemporary Science, Leadership of Trenton and on the governing board for Stockton State College. She is a member of the National Congress of Black Women and the NAACP of Metropolitan Trenton. A graduate of Thomas Edison State College, she is accredited as a certified public manager. She is a resident of Ewing Township. William Paterson University, one of the nine state colleges and universities in New Jersey, offers 43 undergraduate and 22 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 more than 10,200 students and provides housing for nearly 2,700 students. The institution’s 379 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.
# # #
May 11, 2009
www.wpunj.edu
|
|
