Fairfield University announces commencement plans
April 21, 2008
Rev. Jeffrey P. von Arx, S.J., who during his first year as president of Fairfield University greeted the incoming Class of 2008, will be this year's commencement speaker on Sunday, May 18, at 10 a.m. at Bellarmine Hall Lawn. "The Class of 2008 will always have a special place in my heart," Fr. von Arx said, "because they were so welcoming and helpful to me in my new role as president. I entered with this class and even though I don't think I will be graduating, I wanted to speak to them at their commencement and share in their accomplishments. This is truly a very gifted class of students and it has been my privilege to witness their transformation and many accomplishments."
Fairfield University expects to award approximately 870 undergraduate degrees and 340 graduate degrees at the commencement ceremony.
Those receiving honorary degrees will be Sister Julianna Poole, SSND, Ed.D., who championed bilingual education during her career in the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions; Francis T. Vincent, Jr., former Baseball Commissioner and former President and CEO of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.; David Amram, American composer, musician, and writer whose legendary music spans jazz, chamber music, Broadway and film scores; and Fr. John Halligan, S.J., founder of the Working Boys Center in Quito, Ecuador.
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Sister Julianna Poole, SSND, Ed.D., is retiring from Fairfield University after a 60-year career in education in which she has worked to increase cultural appreciation and bilingualism. She was an educator in Puerto Rico from 1953 to 1982, teaching at the elementary and high school levels before moving on to serve as principal of Colegio San Agustin in San Juan and later for Academia del Perpetuo Socorro in Miramar. In 1982 she returned to Connecticut and served as Vice Principal at South Catholic High School in Hartford and Principal of St. Francis School in New Haven.
She joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions at Fairfield University in 1988, teaching courses in Bilingual Education and ESL. As a supervisor of student teachers she saw the need to provide Initial Educator Certification in TESOL and Bilingual Education and in 1994 Fairfield University was accredited in these areas. Sister Poole also wrote training grants for bilingual and ESL teachers, resulting in Project BET, Project BELL, and Project TELL (from 1995 to 2006) which provided training of candidates from the Priority Districts of Bridgeport, Norwalk, and Stamford along with teachers from surrounding districts.
In encouraging students to learn about other people and their languages and cultures, Sr. Julianna stresses that the one quality that supersedes all others in living today, is respect.