Post campus of LIU graduates 2,500 students
Photo of Christina Funaro, 30, from Patchogue. She is graduating with a master's in history. (May 7, 2010) Credit: Photo by Dave Marcus
Graduation day was Friday at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University.Number of graduates: 2,500
Keynote speaker: Charles Osgood, anchor of "CBS News Sunday Morning," told the students they are on a lifelong journey of acquiring knowledge. "One of the important things you have learned here . . . has been learning how to learn. How to think. How to use your mind. Whatever knowledge you've acquired is only the beginning."
Class speaker: Valedictorian Michelle DiDomenico, 21, of Plainview, advised the class to work hard in coming years. DiDomenico, who plans to be a math teacher, quoted Louis Pasteur: "Fortune favors the prepared mind."
Christina Funaro, 30
Master's in history
"I'm going to go on to earn my doctorate, and I want to do research. History goes in cycles, and I compare this time to the '20s and '30s. It's going to get better."
Kenneth Melo, 23
Bachelor's in film
"As America loses power and resources become scarce, we all now have a responsibility to do something about our future. Policies must be reformed for the benefit of society, not greedy individuals."
Dudley Lagrenade, 23
Bachelor's in health administration
"In my field, more graduates are getting jobs because people are always getting sick, but I know people who graduated a couple of years ago and can't find jobs."
Blossom Thomas, 44
Bachelor's in health administration
"I'm from Jamaica, and I think the United States will grow after a couple of years; it will come back to what it was before. Everybody wants to come to the U.S."
Matthew Azzara, 23
Bachelor's in accounting
"We need to worry about the national debt, and about homeland security, about staying out of wars. The debt won't be paid off by my generation, but my kids and their kids."
It's college graduation season
May 15, 10 a.m., Five Towns College. Half Hollow Hills High School East.
May 16, 11 a.m., Hofstra undergraduate, James M. Shuart Stadium. Speaker: Howard Dean. At 3:30 p.m., graduate ceremony, David S. Mack Sports Complex. At 7:30 p.m., school of law ceremony, David S. Mack Sports Complex.
May 16, 11 a.m., NY College of Health Professions, Melville Marriott; speaker and honorary doctorate recipient Leonard Lauren, vice president of Polo/Ralph Lauren
May 16, 10 a.m., Farmingdale State College. Nold Hall, Speaker: Honorary doctor of humane letters recipient Robert Ench, alumnus and landscaper
May 18, 10 a.m., Adelphi University. Nassau Coliseum. Speaker: Adelphi School of Business alumna Carol A. Ammon. Commencement address and will be recognized with an honorary degree. Ammon is founder and retired chief executive and chairman of Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.
May 18, 10 a.m., Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Speaker: President Stanley
May 21, 11 a.m., Stony Brook University, Speaker: TBA, plus speech by honorary degree recipient Eugene V. Thaw, art expert
May 22, 9:30 a.m., Dowling College. Speaker: Bill McDermott, co-chief executive of SAP Co. 2:30 p.m. for graduate students, with Jack Pelton, chief executive of Cessna Aircraft
May 22, 10 a.m., Briarcliffe College, SCC Sports/Convention Complex, 101 Crooked Hill Rd., Brentood. All three Briarwood campuses at that one location. Speaker: Rep Tim Bishop.
May 23, 9 a.m., SUNY-Old Westbury. Rep. Steve Israel
May 23, 11 a.m., Suffolk County Community College, Health, Sports and Education Center, Michael J. Grant Campus. Speaker: Former NASA astronaut and SCCC alumnus, Commander Robert L. Gibson.
May 23, 9:30 a.m., New York Institute of Technology, at Old Westbury campus, President's field. Speaker: NYIT President Edward Guiliano.
May 24, 6 p.m., at Nassau Coliseum. Molloy College. Speaker: 1-800-Flowers chief executive Jim McCann.
May 25, 7 p.m., Nassau Community College, Nassau Coliseum. Speaker: Donald Astrab, President of Nassau Community College
May 30, noon, Touro Law School; Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center. Speaker TBA.
June 1, 3 p.m., St. Joseph's College, at Nassau Coliseum. Speaker: Prof. Peter Barnett, co-founder of the Nassau-Suffolk Coalition for the Homeless and appointee to the Suffolk County Legislature's Welfare to Work Commission, will also receive a Presidential Medal.
June 19, 2:30 p.m.: Webb Institute, Glen Cove, NY. Speaker: John A. Angelicoussis, chairman and chief executive of Angelicoussis Shipping Group Limited.
June 21, 10 a.m.: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, on campus. Speaker: Adm. Mike Mullen, U.S. Navy, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Sneak peek inside Newsday's fall Fun Book NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta explore the fall 2024 issue of Newsday's Fun Book.
Sneak peek inside Newsday's fall Fun Book NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta explore the fall 2024 issue of Newsday's Fun Book.
