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The SHU Class of 2015 includes 1,026 undergraduates who earned associate and bachelor’s degrees and 907 graduate students who will have earned master’s degrees, professional certificates and doctorates. The ceremony for the graduate students was held on Saturday and for undergraduate students on Sunday.
SHU President John J. Petillo reminded the graduates that he was inaugurated as president at the same ceremony four years ago where they were installed as freshmen.
“Today’s passage is a gateway for you to continue to be curious," Petillo said at the ceremony, according to a press release. "Be hungry for learning; build on what you have learned here. The books that you have used here should be kept as a reminder not only of what you have learned, but of what is still out there to be understood.”
George Mitchell, former U.S senator from Maine, received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, before addressing the undergraduates.
“You have an important role to play in preserving and improving our way of life. … What you do is important, but more important is how you do it. For most human beings, life is a never-ending search for respect,” Mitchell said. “There are many ways to gain respect, but none is more important than public service. The more successful you are, the more money and status you achieve, the more evident it will become that there is more to life.”
During Saturday’s graduate commencement, the keynote speaker was Mark Thompson, president and chief executive officer of The New York Times Co.
He shared some of the changes that the New York Times has experienced, noting that while the newspaper has more subscribers than ever because of the digital pay model launched in 2011, revenue from classified ads has dwindled by more than 90 percent.
He told the graduates that if they want to be successful in today’s environment, they will need skills in addition to expertise, talent, focus, a willingness to work hard and ambition. They will also need adaptability, resilience and to know what they stand for.
“Values are more relevant than ever in today’s turbulent age—values that can speak to all of us, whatever our beliefs and however often we fail to live up to them. Values that Sacred Heart University stands for,” Thompson said.
Thompson was also presented with an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
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