Joshua L. Smith, Distinguished Educator and Former BMCC President, Will Deliver Commencement Address
Borough Manhattan Community College students and their families, faculty, and administrators will celebrate the fortieth Commencement exercises on Friday, June 3 at 11:30 a.m. in the Theater at Madison Square Garden. BMCC President Antonio Pérez will preside over the ceremony, as 2,182 graduates–695 with high honors—will receive their diplomas.
Dr. Joshua L. Smith who, as the College’s fourth president, oversaw the construction of the BMCC campus in downtown Manhattan will give the keynote address. Dr. Smith, who has been cited by Black Issues in Higher Education as one of the most influential figures in higher education in the 20th century, is Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at the School of Education, New York University. Upon leaving BMCC, he served as Chancellor of the Community Colleges of California, overseeing 107 colleges and 1.2 million students. Before joining the NYU faculty, he taught at City and Baruch Colleges. As a member of the Board of Overseers of Regent College of the University of the State of New York, he was a founding member of the Board of Trustees of Regents College. Dr. Smith served in the United States Air Force as a pilot in the Strategic Air Command. He holds a bachelor degree in history from Boston University and a masters and doctoral degree from Harvard University.
The presidential medal, the College’s highest honor, which is given to recognize service to the community, will be presented to Gerry Higgins, a Senior Vice President of Verizon Information Processing Services and a member of the BMCC Foundation Board. Mr. Higgins was instrumental in securing funds for the rebuilding of BMCC after September 11.
City University of New York Vice-Chancellor Emma Macari and Trustees Kathleen M. Pesile and Kenneth Cook will offer greetings.
Three outstanding students, each with Grade Point Averages of 3. 98, have been selected as valedictorians:
Co-Valedictorian Jesse Dean came east from his home state of Montana when he was nineteen to work as a nanny for a family in New Jersey. A year later, he went to work in the mailroom of a Manhattan branch of North Fork Bank, but soon rose to a position in management. He left the bank to try his hand in sales and the stock market yet, even while he succeeded, Jesse still felt dissatisfied and decided to go to college. He came to BMCC because of the reputation of its liberal arts program, through which he quickly discovered a talent for writing. A recipient of a CUNY University Senate Scholarship, and a member of Phi Theta Kappa, Jesse was recently awarded the Roger B. Dooley
Award in Creative Writing. He has been accepted at both Columbia and Fordham Universities and hopes to pursue a career in journalism.
Liliana Frankfurt, also a co-valedictorian, is a native of Caracas, Venezuela, where she attended Catholic University, majoring in industrial engineering. After she immigrated to New York with her husband, she decided to come to BMCC for a degree in accounting. At first Liliana worked full-time and attended evening and weekend classes. But she received a full scholarship as a BMCC Fund Scholar in her second year, which allowed her to quit her job and attend school full-time. A member of the Accounting Club, Liliana volunteered as a tutor for students with disabilities. She intends to continue her education at Baruch College this fall.
Co-valedictorian Johanna O’Hare, an accounting major, was born in Longford, Ireland and immigrated with her husband to the United States in 1994. She attended college in Ireland but did not feel motivated to continue after her first year. It wasn’t until she gave birth to her second child that Johanna decided she wanted to do more with her life. At first she doubted her ability to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but after her first semester at BMCC she was convince she could succeed in college. While Johanna pursued her degree, her daughter, Emma, attended the BMCC Early Childhood Center. “The center was an incredible resource, better than any daycare facility uptown,” she said. Johanna will continue her studies at either Hunter or Marymount College.
Borough of Manhattan Community College, founded in 1963, is the largest community college in the City University of New York and the only community college in Manhattan. The U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of International Education rank BMCC as being #1 in awarding degrees to African-Americans in the Northeast; #2 for awarding associate degrees in business; and # 3 for awarding associate degrees in communications technology. The College enrolls over 19,000 students who are representative of the ethnic and cultural diversity of New York City. Respected nationally for its rigorous academic standards and the caliber of its graduates, BMCC takes pride in such innovative academic programs as multimedia programming and design, funded by grants from Microsoft and the National Science Foundation. Visit the College Web site at www.bmcc.cuny.edu
