Actress Marlee Matlin addressed the graduates.

Members of the Class of 2006 gave commencement speaker, Academy Award-winning actress Marlee Matlin, a standing ovation at Southern’s undergraduate ceremony, responding enthusiastically to her message of perseverance. Many of Southern’s 1,293 graduating students participated in the event, which took place on May 26 at the Connecticut Tennis Center, New Haven, Conn. The event was held at the center due to construction on campus.

Matlin, who lost her hearing at the age of 18 months, delivered the address in sign language, as a translator spoke her inspirational message to the graduates and their guests. “We can achieve so much more if we dwell on our abilities rather than our perceived disabilities,” Matlin told the crowd. “In my case, I like to say that the handicaps do not lie in the ear, they lie in the mind. And, in the end, silence is the last thing the world will ever hear from me. I hope it will be the same for you.”

Matlin most recently starred as pollster Joey Lucas on NBC’s Emmy Award-winning series “The West Wing.” At age 21, she became the youngest-ever recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the movie, “Children of a Lesser God.” A long-time advocate for the hearing impaired, she currently serves as a national celebrity spokesman for the American Red Cross.

On May 25, some 950 students received graduate degrees at two graduate commencement exercises, both held at John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts. Dr. Blenda J. Wilson, president and chief executive officer of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, addressed graduates from the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business, and the School of Health and Human Services. Dr. Thomas C. Meredith, commissioner of higher education for the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, delivered the commencement address for graduates from the School of Education and the School of Communication, Information, and Library Science. Meredith and Wilson each were awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

[clockwise from bottom left] Carolyn Carrington, program coordinator, Edward Roman, program coordinator, Dr. James Granfield, interim dean of the School of Education, and Dr. Pamela Brucker, chairman of the Special Education Department.

The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded the grant to the state Department of Education, which in turn, has allocated $2.25 million to Southern to host and operate the program. It is the largest program award that Southern has ever received.

The grant, which is aimed at addressing the state and national shortage of special education teachers, will enable the paraprofessionals to gain their teaching certification within 12 to 15 months. The grant covers tuition and provides stipends for books, food, and, in some cases, childcare.

“We want to remove all barriers for those individuals who have demonstrated the potential and the desire to be special education teachers in urban school districts,” says Dr. Pamela Brucker, chairman of Southern’s Special Education Department.

The program began this summer with a cohort of 30 students from the New Haven School District, including some who are pursuing their teaching certification at the graduate level and others who are seeking their bachelor’s degree. Paraprofessionals in the Hartford Public Schools will compose the second cohort of students, which should begin in the summer of 2007.

Bridgeport paraprofessionals will make up the third cohort in 2008, followed by Waterbury in 2009.

“There is a critical need for special education teachers throughout the state, particularly in urban districts,” says George Dowaliby, chief of the state Department of Education’s Bureau of Special Education. “Southern is taking a leadership role among Connecticut colleges and universities in addressing this need.”

A window in the Michael J. Adanti Student Center overlooks the Hilton C. Buley Library, currently under construction.

The project also will enable the university to increase its general book collection from 460,000 volumes to 765,000.

Meritorious mathematicians Richard Bowles, Bobby McFarlane, and Joe Langeway.

The competition challenges students to solve real-world problems using any model they choose, including math equations, computer programming, and graphs.

Southern students Stephanie Fazio and Marc Farrante display their posters during the New England Regional Conference of the Society of Physics Students (SPS), which was co-hosted by Southern.

In related news, Southern student Charles Tirrell was awarded an SPS Leadership Scholarship in recognition of his academic performance, potential, and activities in the SPS. He was one of only 14 students in the nation to receive the award.

Tirrell has served as vice president and president of Southern’s SPS chapter, and co-chairman of the 2006 SPS New England Regional Conference, which was co-hosted by Southern. The conference featured many of the best and brightest physics students from the region, as well as presentations by well-known physicists. The SPS represents more than 700 chapters on colleges nationwide.

Southern’s Ed.D. program, the first doctoral program offered in Southern’s 113-year history, graduated its first six students in May. “It is very challenging to work as an educator, especially as a school administrator, and finish all the work for our Ed.D. in a four-year period,” says Dr. Cathryn Magno, program coordinator.

The Ed.D., which began as a pilot program in the fall of 2002, has been granted permanent approval from the state Department of Education’s Board of Governors.

More empirical and less theoretical than the Ph.D., the Ed.D. is geared toward teachers and administrators who seek practical training in key administrative areas.

History Professor Hugh Davis, center, is honored by [left to right] Provost Selase Williams, Rev. John P. Sullivan, President Cheryl J. Norton, and Gerald Schultz, chairman of the CSU Professorship Advisory Committee.

He is the author of two books, “Joshua Leavitt: Evangelical Abolitionist” and “Leonard Bacon: New England Reformer and Antislavery Moderate.” He received Southern’s Faculty Scholar Award for both works; the former also received the Outstanding Book Award from the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the United States.

The title of Connecticut State University Professor was created in 1987 to recognize outstanding merit among the teaching faulty in the CSU system, which in addition to Southern, includes Eastern, Central, and Western Connecticut State Universities. Each university is limited to three such designated scholars at any time. As Southern’s newest CSU Professor, Davis joins a select group of outstanding faculty members who continue to make significant contributions to their fields of research and study. Davis is the first member of Southern’s History Department to be named a CSU professor; Southern’s other two CSU Professors are Dr. Vivian Shipley, English, and Dr. Harriet Applewhite, political science.

New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick speaks with President Cheryl J. Norton.

Belichick, the only head coach in NFL history to win three Super Bowl championships in a four-year span, was the featured speaker for this year’s Mary and Louis Fusco Distinguished Lecture. As an NFL coach, Belichick has guided teams to five Super Bowl titles, six conference championships, and 11 division titles since entering the NFL in 1975.

Previous speakers in the annual Distinguished Lecture series were Colin Powell, Walter Cronkite, Christopher and Dana Reeve, Ehud Barak, Rudolph Giuliani, Mario Cuomo, and Madeleine Albright. Proceeds from the event benefit Southern’s Endowed Awards of Excellence, a merit-based scholarship program.