MEDIA CONTACT: Kristine M. McGrath
561-297-1168, kmcgrath@fau.edu or
Andrew LaPlant
561-297-0884, alaplant@fau.edu
BOCA RATON, FL (December 8, 2006) - Florida Atlantic University conferred more than 2,100 degrees today during three commencement ceremonies held in the FAU Arena on the Boca Raton campus. The new graduates join approximately 98,000 alumni who have graduated from FAU since the university opened its doors in 1964.
“Commencement is a wonderful opportunity for FAU’s students, faculty, staff and the extended FAU family to celebrate the great accomplishments of these graduates,” said FAU President Frank T. Brogan. “With the tools acquired through their success at FAU, these students will have the opportunity to achieve their part of the American dream.”
During the 9 a.m. commencement ceremony, Mirta Ojito, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communication from FAU in 1986, received the honorary doctorate in humane letters. Ojito joined the staff of The New York Times in 1996, and in 2001, she was a member of the Times’ reporting team that won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting with a series titled “How Race is Lived in America.” In addition to this, President’s Distinguished Service Medallions were awarded to May and Bernard Smith. Their endowment, established in 2002, created and continues to support the May Smith Lecture Series on Post-Holocaust Christian-Jewish Dialogue that annually brings outstanding scholars in the fields of religion and philosophy to FAU. Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel was the first featured speaker in the series. Best-selling author James Carroll spoke the following year.
The 6 p.m. ceremony included a special recognition of Manuel D. Medina, who received the FAU National Alumni Association Hall of Fame Award, an award that recognizes distinguished alumni who demonstrate exceptional service and commitment to their profession or the community. Medina graduated from FAU in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He founded Terremark Worldwide Inc., a leading operator of integrated Internet exchanges and a global provider of managed IT infrastructure solutions for the government and private sectors.
Spring commencement also highlighted the accomplishments of several outstanding graduates, including:
Rene Giro, who shortly after being discharged from the U.S. Army, realized he lacked the skills and motivation needed to be successful in his professional life. He also realized that getting a degree would not be easy, as he needed to work full time to support his wife and newly adopted special needs child. A number of hardships, including temporary blindness in one eye as a result of an illness, and surprises, an announcement from his wife that she was pregnant with triplets, would make Giro’s journey towards getting a degree that much more difficult. Though faced with many challenges, Giro finally graduated today with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
Monica Vasquez was born with glaucoma and is legally blind. Attending college was difficult, since the books for her classes were much more difficult to find in Braille and on tape. Vasquez depended heavily on FAU’s Office of Students with Disabilities, as they helped find people to read her books not available in Braille. In addition, she was able to utilize state-of-the-art computer software to hear what she typed or listen to what she read by the scanning of pages. The bachelor’s degree Vasquez received today in social work will give her the opportunity to help others faced with various challenges.
Some interesting statistics regarding the spring graduating class include the fact that 84 of the 2,185 degree recipients were over the age of 50. The oldest graduate was 76 and the youngest was 19. The graduates represented 71 countries.
For the convenience of family members and friends who could not attend the commencement ceremonies, the proceedings were cybercast at www.fau.edu.
- FAU -
Florida Atlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the university serves more than 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students on seven campuses strategically located along 150 miles of Florida's southeastern coastline. Building on its rich tradition as a teaching and research university, with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts nine colleges - the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, and the Colleges of Business, Education, Engineering & Computer Science, and Architecture, Urban & Public Affairs.
