For Katherine Lapp, Class of 1978, her next visit to the picturesque Fairfield University campus will be a memorable one. The executive vice president of Harvard University will address the undergraduate students at the universitys 60th Commencement on Sunday, May 23 on Bellarmine Lawn. The ceremony will begin at 9:30 a.m. Lapp will also receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Another alumnus of distinction, Dr. James Abbruzzese, F.A.C.P., the M.G. and Lillie A. Johnson Chair for Cancer Treatment and Research and chair of the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, will speak at the graduate Commencement, also on May 23, at 3 p.m. Abbruzzese will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree.
In addition to the speakers, honorary degrees will be bestowed on Dr. Mayra Luz Pérez Díaz, the first woman to be named president of the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in Managua, Nicaragua; art historian Emily Rafferty, the first woman to be named president of New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Rev. Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., professor of New Testament at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. As Harvards chief administrative officer, Lapp oversees all financial, administrative, human resources and capital planning functions as well as the administrative aspects of information technology for a university with over 13,000 employees, 18,000 students and annual operating expenses of $3.8 billion. She is also responsible for revising the universitys budget and planning processes, re-structuring the capital planning and project management functions of the university, and implementing ambitious environmental goals, including the first university-wide greenhouse-gas emissions reduction pledge. A history major at Fairfield, Lapp went on to earn a Juris Doctorate from Hofstra University in 1981 and served as the executive director of New Yorks Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) for four years. Her next position was vice president for business operations at the University of California, where she coordinated finances, human resources, real estate and facilities management for the systems 10 campuses. Her accomplishments there brought her to the attention of Harvard. Abbruzzese is a recognized leader in the field of pancreatic cancer research and treatment. He has published more than 350 peer-reviewed articles, books and book chapters, sits on several scientific advisory boards and is a deputy editor of the journal, Clinical Cancer Research. He has co-edited books entitled Gastrointestinal Oncology, published by Oxford University Press (2004), Antioangiogenic Cancer Therapy, published by CRC Press (2008), and Pancreatic Cancer, published by Springer (2010). His research group has been awarded a SPORE (Science Prize for Online Resources in Education) in pancreatic cancer and Interdisciplinary Research Consortium (U54) grant on angiogenesis from the NIH. The Hartford native completed his undergraduate work in biology at Fairfield in 1974 and graduated medical school with honors from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. Abbruzzese completed residency in Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center at the Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Click here to follow Daily Voice and receive free news updates.
