BSU Commencement Ceremonies Return to Gillette Stadium
In a letter to the BSU community, President Fred Clark, ’83, announced, “BSU’s 2022 undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies will take place at Gillette Stadium. This multi-day event will also confer Honorary Degrees on leaders who recognize the inherent dignity of all persons and has dedicated their life and careers to lifting up all people and contributing to a more just, inclusive and equitable society.”
Holding our commencement at Gillette, with its 65,000+ seating capacity, permits students to invite an unlimited number of family, friends and other guests to share in their big day, and if necessary, allow for social distancing in the event of a surge in COVID cases.
Inside Gillette, guests will have access to concessions and other amenities, and Patriot Place features a large assortment of restaurants where graduates and their families are able to continue their celebrations after commencement.
On Friday, June 24, Graduate Commencement, speaker and Honorary Degree recipient Commissioner of Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, Dr. Carlos E. Santiago will start the weekend off. Dr. Santiago was appointed to his current position by Governor Charlie Baker in 2015. His seven years as Commissioner of Massachusetts Department of Higher Education have been among the most transformative periods in the history of public higher education in Massachusetts. As a result of his leadership, the Board of Higher Education has adopted a bold Equity Agenda that is advancing on multiple fronts to eliminate racial and ethnic educational disparities. Dr. Santiago has passionately and cogently advocated for the centrality of equity for securing the long term vitality of our public colleges and universities, advancing social and economic mobility and enhancing our state’s economic competitiveness. He has been a strong supporter of the Leading for Change Racial Equity and Justice Institute, which is led by BSU, and has helped guide, inform and drive our own equity agenda. Dr. Santiago recently announced his retirement as Commissioner, leaving behind a legacy that will continue for many years to come.
The morning Undergraduate Commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 25, feature two Honorary Degree and commencement speakers for graduates of the Louis M. Ricciardi College of Business, College of Education and Health Sciences and Bartlett College of Science and Mathematics.
Barbara Stevens, BSU Class of 1976, is among only five women’s college basketball coaches who have amassed at least 1,000 coaching victories, alongside the late Pat Summitt (Tennessee), Tara VanDerveer (Stanford), Geno Auriemma (Connecticut) and Sylvia Hatchell (North Carolina). In more than three decades at Bentley University, Ms. Stevens, who retired in June 2020, won the NCAA Division II national championship during a perfect 35-0 season in 2013-2014, secured 29 N.C.A.A. tournament bids, won 14 regional titles, and had a dozen 30-win seasons. She has been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, indelibly securing her place among the greatest women’s basketball coaches of all time.
As spectacular as her record on the court has been, she made an enduring mark on the hundreds of players she coached. For Ms. Stevens, basketball was the tool and the court was her classroom, which she used to help mold her players into fine, hard-working, compassionate young adults dedicated to the larger good. At BSU, Ms. Stevens was a three-sport athlete competing in basketball, softball and tennis, and led the women’s basketball team to two MASCAC titles.
Also speaking in the morning ceremony and receiving and honorary degree is Elaine Clement-Holbrook, BSU Classes of 1975 and 1981. A stellar student athlete at BSU, Ms. Clement-Holbrook went on to a much-heralded coaching career. Her record of accomplishment and sustained excellence is unsurpassed. As the all-time winningest girl’s high school basketball coach in Massachusetts history, she guided her Oliver Ames High School teams to two state championships, multiple Hockomock League titles and tournament berths in almost every season of her coaching career and earned induction into the Massachusetts State Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Ms. Clement-Holbrook was an exemplary teacher, both in the classroom and on the court, imbuing in her students an understanding that in life your goal “is to be a good person and to be willing to give back, and for those who have gifts to use them to the best of your ability.”
The Saturday afternoon Undergraduate Commencement ceremony for graduates of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley will receive an Honorary Degree and serve as commencement speaker. Ms. Pressley was elected to represent Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2018, after serving eight years on the Boston City Council. As the first woman of color elected to the Boston City Council in its 100-year history and the first woman of color elected to Congress from Massachusetts, Congresswoman Pressley has emerged as one of the most impassioned and powerful voices in the essential mission of building a more just and equitable country, one that lives up to its creed that “all men are created equal.” In recommending Congresswoman Pressley for an Honorary Degree, the BSU Board of Trustees’ Honorary Degree Committee cited her commitments to racial equity and justice, reforming the criminal justice system, broad-based student debt cancellation, transitioning to clean and sustainable energy resources and advancing environmental justice, as well as championing investments in affordable housing and childcare, public transportation and community health that will support underprivileged families and strengthen local communities.
The afternoon’s commencement, will also honor Peter Kelleher with BSU’s Distinguished Service Award, the award honoring a person or an organization whose significant acts of public service have created opportunities for citizens of southeastern Massachusetts to improve the quality of their lives. Mr. Kelleher took a personal tragedy, the loss of his son, Travis, and converted that loss into gain, by helping thousands of people who are coping with homelessness. In five short years, “the Soupman,” as he is affectionately known, has progressed from serving hot soup on the streets of Brockton to building a non-profit organization, supported by a small army of donors and volunteers, which serves hot soup and bag lunches, provides portable showers and delivers clothes and other essential supplies to people living on the streets throughout New England. In the process of providing these tangible expressions of love, Mr. Kelleher has done so much more – offering dignity, respect, hope and connection to people who are often shunned.
To the Class of 2022, Welcome to Alumni Land…Once a Bear, Always a Bear.