ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´

What:

ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´'s 57th commencement

When:

Sunday, May 20, 2007, at 10 a.m.

Where:

Bellarmine Lawn at ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´.

Details:

1,226 graduates will receive 863 bachelor's degrees, 340 master's degrees, 17 certificates of advanced study and 6 associate's degrees.

Rev. Thomas J. Regan, S.J., the Provincial Superior of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus and former ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´ faculty member, will deliver the commencement address and be presented with an honorary doctor of laws degree. Fr. Regan was named Teacher of the Year early in his teaching career at Fairfield. As Provincial Superior, he oversees the governance of some 400 Jesuit priests, brothers and seminarians. The Jesuits of New England sponsor, in addition to ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´, Boston College and the College of the Holy Cross, three high schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, a retreat house in Gloucester, Mass., and Campion Renewal Center in Weston, Mass. They also staff six parishes and are involved in education and parish work in Jamaica, the West Indies, and Amman, Jordan.

Edward P. Hardiman, Ph. D., a 1992 ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´ graduate who worked with Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. to develop the inaugural Mission Volunteer program to Duran, Ecuador, will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree.
When he returned to his alma mater, Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Mass., in 1993 as a teacher and campus minister, he developed the Xaverian Global Encounter Program. It was modeled after the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´ program that brings students to Ecuador, Mexico, and Appalachia to help impoverished people. He is the principal of St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers, Mass.

Meghan K. Lowney, MSW, a Fairfield resident and the former executive director of Operation Hope of Fairfield, Inc., will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. She devoted the last 16 years to expanding the services for homeless people in the area through her work with Operation Hope. After being named its executive director in 1996, she helped increase Operation Hope's quantity of services to the homeless by 500 percent. Today Operation Hope is recognized statewide as a reputable, effective provider of local solutions to homelessness.

James P. Roach, M.D., a physician who serves as chairperson of the Board of Directors of St. Vincent's Special Needs Center, will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. His life has been dedicated to the Jesuit ideal of cura personalis, Latin for "care for the whole person." In addition to serving on the boards of several non-profit agencies, he and his wife, Joan, hosted two young people from Cambodia and another from Brazil so they could gain an education. He and his wife live in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, and are the parents of eight children. He is a graduate of both Fairfield Prep and ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´.

David C. Muccino, of Unionville, Conn., will deliver the University's valedictory address.

Anthony William Kunz, an engineering major from Harleysville, Penn., will receive the Bellarmine Medal, presented to the student with the highest four-year academic average.

Ashley Toombs, an international studies and Spanish major from Newburgh, N.Y., will receive the Saint Ignatius Loyola Medal for outstanding University service, the highest Alumni Association award presented to a senior.