Lesley University Welcomes U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at Centennial Commencement

Honorary degrees to be awarded to Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Chinua Achebe, Roz Chast and the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Lesley University, celebrating its Centennial, will welcome U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the University's Commencement exercises on May 19, 2010, to be held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Duncan will deliver the Commencement Address as Lesley confers degrees upon 3,000 graduates, two-thirds with degrees in Education.

During Commencement exercises, Lesley will confer honorary degrees upon Victoria Reggie Kennedy, celebrated writer Chinua Achebe, and New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast.  

Mrs. Kennedy will also accept an honorary degree on behalf of her late husband, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who will be honored in recognition of a life of public service.

"For 100 years, Lesley University has been grounded in education as the foundation of a civil society, and in the preparation of men and women for careers that help shape strong communities," said Lesley University President Joseph B. Moore. "We are honored to welcome Secretary Duncan, particularly at a time when the goal of a quality education for all students is at the forefront of the national discussion."

"This year's Commencement is a celebration of our Centennial, and the work of graduates in the fields of education, human services, the arts and the environment all over the world," said Moore. "Each of our honorary degree recipients exemplifies our mission, and their lives and careers carry important lessons for our graduates who mark the end of one educational pursuit, and the beginning of a new chapter in their careers."

Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He was raised in the village of Ogidi, one of the first centers of missionary work in Eastern Nigeria, and is a graduate of University College, Ibadan. He is the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University. He has written more than twenty books – novels, short stories, essays and collections of poetry – including Things Fall Apart (1958), which has now sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than fifty languages. In 2007, he won the Man Booker International Prize for Fiction.

Roz Chast is an illustrator and cartoonist who began contributing to The New Yorker in 1978 and became a staff cartoonist in 1979 and has since contributed more than 1,000 cartoons to the magazine. Her cartoons have also been published in Scientific American, Harvard Business Review, Redbook, Mother Jones, and many other magazines. Her most recent book is Theories of Everything: Selected, Collected and Health Inspected Cartoons, 1978-2006. She is also the illustrator of The Alphabet from A to Y with Bonus Letter Z, by Steve Martin.

Arne Duncan is the U.S. Secretary of Education. Appointed by President-elect Barack Obama, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009. Prior to his appointment, Duncan was the chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools from 2001-2008, making him the longest-serving big-city education superintendent in the country. Duncan has also led the non-profit education foundation Ariel Education Initiative, which helped fund a college education for a class of inner-city children.

Victoria Reggie Kennedy is the President and co-founder of Common Sense about Kids and Guns, a non-profit organization created to address the serious crisis of gun deaths and injuries to children in the United States. She also works with organizations in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia on other issues relating to women, children and families, including homelessness, economic opportunity, health care, education, domestic violence, and involvement in the political process.  

Senator Edward M. Kennedy represented the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1962 until his passing in 2009. He will be honored for his decades of public service, strong and effective advocacy for education, civil rights, and economic opportunity for all.

"Senator Kennedy's legacy has been and will continue to be well celebrated," said President Moore. "He was a good friend to Lesley and our educational mission. Senator Kennedy viewed quality educational opportunity as a basic civil right in America. Our educational system is not yet equitable for all, so the work indeed 'goes on,' but we will honor Senator Kennedy's legacy with a renewed commitment towards that ideal."

Lesley University (www.lesley.edu) is an 8,000-student, multi-site university for women and men, and is one of the nation's largest providers of graduate professional education opportunities to K-12 educators. Anchored by a strong liberal arts curriculum, Lesley offers undergraduate and graduate programs in education, the arts, human services and the environment at its Cambridge and Boston campuses, online, and in 150 locations in 23 states. Lesley's four schools include the School of Education, the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, The Art Institute of Boston, and Lesley College, an undergraduate residential college. Lesley University prepares individuals for lives and careers that make a difference, and serves the evolving needs of students and a diverse society through innovative programs and pedagogy, high quality instruction, scholarship, advocacy, and outreach. Founded in 1909, the university is celebrating its centennial year.

SOURCE Lesley University