commencement speakers announced

Fri., May 23

Undergraduate Commencement ceremony

may 23, 2008

Trudie Styler ~
Humanitarian, Producer, Actor

In 1988, Trudie Styler and her husband, rock legend Sting, turned their concerns for the environment into a reality by launching the Rainforest Foundation, an organization devoted to protecting rainforests and their indigenous peoples. The foundation's first major initiative was to campaign globally for the protection of the lands of the Kayapo Indians in Brazilian Amazonia. This resulted in 1993 in the legal recognition and demarcation of an area of more than 17,000 square miles as the Menkragnoti Indigenous Area.

Since then, the foundation's efforts have raised worldwide awareness about the importance of protecting lands and sustaining lives. Focusing on three continents -- South America, Africa, and Asia -- the international, non-profit organization tackles such issues as the connections between human rights and land rights, the central role that forests play in protecting the planet against climate change, and the intrinsic value of indigenous people and their rich cultures.

A gifted and experienced theatrical and motion picture producer, Ms. Styler brought her talents to Carnegie Hall 15 years ago to put together the first Rainforest Foundation Benefit Concert. Just this month, on May 8, the organization staged its 15th annual concert, again at Carnegie Hall, and again showcasing some of the most celebrated performers in the world, including Sting, James Taylor, Billy Joel, and Brian Wilson.

Ms. Styler's work on behalf of human rights and the environment has been recognized by many. She received The Humanitarian Award in 1995 from the Hospitality Committee for the United Nations delegations; the Ermenegildo Zegna International Environmental Award in 1998 from GQ magazine; the Human Rights Champion Award in 2000 from Amnesty International; a Forces for Nature Award in 2002 from the Natural Resources Defense Council; and most recently the Liz Tilberis Humanitarian Award from the Council of Fashion Designers in 2004. As an ambassador for UNICEF, she remains committed to working to improve the lives of impoverished and exploited children all over the world.

Ms. Styler's passionate concerns for the environment and human rights motivate many of her career choices and are reflected most clearly in her documentary films. With her production company, Xingu Films, she has produced several award-winning documentaries on various topics, including the 1989 student demonstrations for democracy in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. She also produced the documentary "A Kind of Childhood" (2002), which follows the lives of a group of working children in Bangladesh during a period of six years, providing a fascinating document of their young lives. Her feature films and collaborations include Guy Ritchie's "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (1998) and Joel Hershman's "Greenfingers" (2001) starring Clive Owen and Helen Mirren.

Her most recent and critically acclaimed feature is "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints." This autobiographical film about first-time writer and director Dito Montiel's troubled adolescence in Astoria, Queens, won the coveted Dramatic Directing Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was honored with a Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble Cast, which includes Robert Downey, Jr., Shia LaBeouf, Chazz Palminteri, Dianne Wiest, and Rosario Dawson. The film also garnered such notable awards as the Venice Film Festival's Critics Week Lion for Best Feature.

Forthcoming projects are an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's novel "South of the Border, West of the Sun" and Joshua Doder's popular children's books, including "A Dog Called Grk."

A leading player in the Royal Shakespeare Company during the 1980s, Ms. Styler studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has extensive experience in British repertory theaters, working alongside such notables as Peter O'Toole, Harvey Keitel, Alan Bates, and James Earl Jones. Her recent television and film work includes roles in the sitcom "Friends" (2002), a major role in the ABC series "Empire" (2005), and the films "Me Without You" (2001), the ABC film "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" (2002), "Cheeky" (2003), and "Alpha Male" (2005).

As an actor, director, producer, and humanitarian, Trudie Styler continues to break new ground. Her ability to balance her artistic vision with her inspiring charitable campaigns shows her to be a formidable force for both world justice and the creative spirit.

graduate commencement ceremonies • May 22, 2008

The Honorable Flemming L. Norcott, Jr. ~
Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court

Afternoon Commencement Speaker

The Honorable Flemming L. Norcott, Jr., currently an associate justice on the Connecticut Supreme Court, has served with distinction for nearly 30 years as a Connecticut judicial officer and has received local, state, and national recognition for his professional and community work.

Born in New Haven, Justice Norcott graduated in 1961 from The Taft School. He earned a bachelor of arts from Columbia University in 1965 and a juris doctor from Columbia School of Law in 1968. Upon graduating from law school, Justice Norcott entered the Peace Corps as a volunteer in Kenya, where he served as a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of East Africa in Nairobi.

He then served on the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation's Legal Staff in New York City and later as an Assistant Attorney General in the United States Virgin Islands. He was the co-founder and executive director of the Center for Advocacy, Research, and Planning, Inc., in New Haven. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he also served as a hearing examiner for the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.

In New Haven, Justice Norcott began his career as a Connecticut officer of the court. He was appointed as a Superior Court judge from 1979 to 1987, and then served for the next five years on the Appellate Court bench. He was elevated to Connecticut's Supreme Court in 1992.

As a distinquished justice and citizen of Connecticut, Justice Norcott has contributed his time and energy to promote numerous professional, educational, and fraternal, and causes. For these efforts, he has received numerous honors, including the 2002 U.S. Peace Corps Franklin H. Williams Award, which recognizes Peace Corps volunteers of color who have made outstanding contributions in community service. He is also the 2003 recipient of the Greater New Haven Chapter of the NAACP's most prestigious honor, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Leadership Award. Both the University of New Haven and Albertus Magnus College have presented him with honorary doctorates.

Justice Norcott is an adviser for the New Haven Youth Rights Media Project. Until his retirement last year, he spent most fall Saturdays on the gridiron as a college football official for Division I-A and I-AA.

He and his wife, Althea Musgrove Norcott, are the parents of Daryl, Tiffany, and Candice.

Dr. Jonathan Daube ~
President, Manchester Community College

Evening Commencement Speaker

During his many years as a leader in education, Dr. Jonathan Daube has established a remarkable reputation, known nationally and internationally for his intellectual gifts, his dynamic leadership, and his astute insights into contemporary educational issues.

As president of Manchester Community College for 21 years, he has thrust Connecticut's largest community college into the national and state limelight with a massive building program and an innovative curriculum. Indeed, Manchester holds the distinction as the only community college in the country recognized for excellence by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. The designation recognizes Manchester's "remarkable history of nurturing and encouraging students' academic and intellectual abilities and motivation."

Dr. Daube's retirement next month caps a lifetime dedicated to the highest ideals of education. During his years as president, he has argued eloquently in favor of several critical changes in education, from encouraging faculty diversity to building community alliances to keeping education accessible.

Dr. Daube grew up in England, where his father was a law professor at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and Oxford University. Following in his father's footsteps, Jonathan earned his master's degree from the University of Aberdeen and studied at the University of London before moving to the United States, where he received his doctorate from Harvard University. His early career included teaching positions in grammar and high schools in England and the United States and a stint as superintendent of schools in Martha's Vineyard.

He became a collegiate educator in 1967 when the Carnegie Corporation sponsored his teaching of sociology and educational administration at the University of Malawi in Central Africa. Back in the United States, he held positions as professor and director of the Union Graduate School in Ohio, president of Berkshire Community College in Massachusetts, and special assistant to the chancellor of higher education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In 1987, he moved to Connecticut to become president of Manchester Community College.

Besides elevating Manchester Community College's reputation as an outstanding public two-year institution that now serves 15,000 students each year, Dr. Daube has continued to emphasize the importance of education as a continuum. His vision in this regard has grown into reality with the Great Path Academy, which is the first public high school constructed on a college campus in Connecticut. Great Path Academy enables its students to immerse themselves in a college community, encouraging them to accelerate their post-secondary school studies by taking college as well as high school courses. Governor M. Jodi Rell has praised this project as an "innovative and exciting opportunity" for high school students who might not otherwise attempt to go to college.

Dr. Daube served as a member of the board of directors of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, a visiting member of the The Hartford Courant's editorial board, and a member of the board of electors of the Wadsworth Athenaeum. He is also a corporator of the Eastern Connecticut Health Network, Inc., and will continue to serve as president of the board of directors of the University of Aberdeen Development Trust USA, the group that promotes outreach and fund raising for this university.

In retirement, Dr. Daube will teach a course at the University of Massachusetts, write, and spend time with his three young grandchildren.