Commencement
The university held its 2013 undergraduate commencement ceremony on May 17 at the
Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. On May 16, the university also held two commencement
ceremonies for students receiving master's degrees, sixth year professional diplomas,
and doctoral degrees. These ceremonies were held at the John Lyman Center for the
Performing Arts on campus.
Both the undergraduate and graduate commencements attracted attracted considerable media attention.
The New Haven Register ran a story and photo about the undergraduate commencement.
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, delivered the commencement
address to more than 1,200 graduates.
Register story and photos
The Connecticut Post ran a photo in the May 18 newspaper.
Photo page in the online version of the Post
The Hartford Courant also ran a photo in the May 18 paper.
Photo page in the online version of the Courant
Channel 30 also included a brief piece on the undergraduate commencement during the
May 17 evening news.
In addition, the graduate commencement evening ceremony also garnered media attention,
particularly for the presentation of the Distinguished Alumni Award to four individuals
who died in the Newtown shooting tragedy last December. Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung,
Anne Marie Murphy and Mary Sherlach had each earned a master’s degree at Southern,
while Victoria Soto was taking classes toward her master’s degree. Victoria also was
awarded her degree posthumously.
Channel 61 included two segment on May 16 about the graduate ceremony.
Channel 61 story 2
WQUN radio (1220 AM) interviewed Greg Paveza, dean of the School of Health and Human
Services who also has been serving as interim dean of the School of Graduate Studies,
about the presentations to the four people. The segment aired on May 16.
And WTIC radio (1080 AM) also mentioned the presentations in advance of commencement.