Actor, Education Advocate LeVar Burton to Address Graduates
05/11/2015
Contacts for media: Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209, Christine_Gillette@uml.edu and Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu
* M E D I A A D V I S O R Y *
WHAT: UMass Lowell will honor the Class of 2015 at the Commencement Eve Celebration on Friday, May 15 and at Commencement exercises on Saturday, May 16. For the eighth year in a row, a record number – 3,714 – will graduate.
LeVar Burton – best known as an actor for his roles in “Roots” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and as host and producer of the TV series “Reading Rainbow” – will deliver the Commencement address on Saturday. Burton and his business partner used a successful Kickstarter campaign to adapt “Reading Rainbow” into what is now the No. 1 educational app on iTunes and is being introduced versions for the web and the classroom with a special emphasis on those in economically challenged schools.
On Friday, the Commencement Eve Celebration from 5 to 8:30 p.m. will recognize student academic and service award winners, distinguished graduates and honorary degree recipients, including Burton. The annual event is a fundraiser for student scholarships that has raised millions of dollars since it was established in 2008.
Along with Burton, other recipients of honorary doctorates of humane letters will be: Carole Cowan, a Lynn native now living in Manchester-by-the-Sea who served as president of Middlesex Community College in Bedford and Lowell for 25 years; John Sampas of Lowell, the literary executor of the estate of Jack Kerouac, the novelist and beat generation icon who was a Lowell native; Barry Perry ’68 of Newtown, Pa., former chairman and CEO of Engelhard Inc., a global chemical and metals company, and an alumnus of UMass Lowell’s Plastics Engineering program for whom a campus engineering building, Perry Hall is named; and Donato Tramuto of Ogunquit, Maine, founder, CEO and chairman of Physicians Interactive and founder of Health eVillages, provider of state-of-the-art mobile health technology and support resources to medical professionals in challenging environments around the world. The 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award winner Lorenzo Cabrera ’94 of East Hampton, Conn., and Miami – founder and chairman of the board of Cabrera Services Inc., which is the recipient of honors from the U.S. Small Business Administration – will also be recognized.
The top student award winners in academics and service hail from Andover, Boston, Billerica, Burlington, Chelmsford, Douglas, Georgetown, Lawrence, Littleton, Lowell, Methuen,Needham, Pembroke, Revere, Shrewsbury, Tewksbury and Woburn, as well as Hudson and Pembroke, N.H., Ocala, Fla., and Cypress, Texas. This year, UMass Lowell has two valedictorians – residents of Tewksbury and Hudson, N.H. – both of whom will receive the Trustees Key for having a perfect 4.0 grade-point average for their entire academic career at UMass Lowell. The University Scholar Athlete Award winner is a resident of Nashua, N.H.
Saturday’s Commencement exercises, which kick off at 9 a.m., are scheduled to include UMass Lowell Chancellor and UMass President-Elect Marty Meehan, Executive Vice Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney, Provost Ahmed Abdelal, members of the UMass Board of Trustees and other UMass system representatives, state Sen. Eileen Donoghue, Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian and Lowell Mayor Rodney Elliott.
Members of the media will have the opportunity to interview Burton during the ceremony and Meehan immediately following the ceremony.
Qurat Ann of Lynn, a criminal justice major who is going on to UMass Lowell’s Ph.D. program in that field, and Marina Parker of Clinton, a mechanical engineering major who plans to pursue a master’s degree specializing in structural dynamics and vibrations, will each deliver a student Commencement address, Ann at the morning ceremony and Parker in the afternoon.
Outstanding members of the Class of 2015 also include:
- Garrett Burgess of Chelmsford is wheelchair-bound and cannot see, but his mind can take him places few people can go, envisioning complex scientific concepts and equations and how to apply them. Although he has been paralyzed since he was in a car accident as a toddler and blind following complications from surgery as a teenager, he has not been deterred from earning a degree in chemistry at UMass Lowell. Assistive technology, support from the university’s Office of Disability Services, lab technicians who mix chemicals for the experiments he designs and analyzes and his professors have all played a role in his academic success. But Burgess’ greatest strength may be his upbeat attitude. After graduation, he will pursue work as a chemist.
- Arnaldo and Hector Rivera of Methuen, identical twins coping with lupus who will become the first in their family to receive bachelor’s degrees on Saturday. Not only have they demonstrated determination overcoming setbacks from their illness, including renal failure, to complete their education, they are also known for helping others. Both psychology majors, the Riveras work at UMass Lowell’s University Crossing student center in jobs assisting the campus and the public. Their study group for fellow students tackling a tough course in statistics was the precursor to their award-winning plan to open a nonprofit homework center for schoolchildren in Lawrence, which captured honors from the university’s 2015 DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge, part of a program that teaches students entrepreneurial skills to solve problems in business and communities. Hector is one of only six of the close to 3,800 members of UMass Lowell’s Class of 2015 who will receive a Chancellor’s Medal for Community Service. Both will start work on their master’s degrees in education at UMass Lowell this fall.
- Judy Fredette of Winchendon, a wife and mother of three children who successfully fought an aggressive form of breast cancer while earning a Ph.D. in nursing at UMass Lowell. She wrote a memoir about her experience with cancer, “Strength of Heart,” which was published in 2012. Fredette, 55, who has worked as a maternity nurse and a nurse practitioner, said participating in UMass Lowell’s doctoral program made her feel “empowered and supported” in part due to the connections she forged with faculty in the School of Nursing. Today, she integrates her story of survival and success into the community-college courses she teaches as she trains the next generation of nurses.
WHERE: Commencement Eve Celebration (5 p.m. Friday) – UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, 50 Warren St., Lowell (parking is available in adjacent city parking garage)
Commencement exercises (9 a.m. Saturday) – Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell, 300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Lowell (reserved parking available by contacting University Relations)
Media credentials are required for Commencement events. Electronic or other media with technical needs should notify UMass Lowell media relations in advance.