67th Commencement Scheduled for May 18
On Tuesday, May 18, the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., will be the site for the 67th Commencement ceremony of Fairleigh Dickinson University. University President J. Michael Adams will preside at the 10 a.m. ceremony as approximately 3,000 students receive doctoral, master’s, bachelor’s and associate degrees. The campus provosts will present the Student Pinnacle Awards.
The Class of 2010 represents 58 countries, including the United States, 34 states plus the District of Columbia; and all 21 counties in New Jersey. The ceremony also celebrates the first graduating class from FDU’s Vancouver campus (10 students).
The University will confer honorary doctor of humane letters degrees on U.S. Senator Robert Menendez and Chinese-Filipino industrialist Lucio C. Tan.
The Commencement ceremony will be live again on the Web, allowing family and friends around the world to share the ceremony with the graduates. The live stream begins at 8 a.m. EDT with the scrolling of the names of the graduates and Grad Greetings, followed by the full Commencement ceremony. A link on the FDU home page (http://www.fdu.edu) will go directly to the live stream. To find webcast information go to http://www.fdu.edu/commencement .
Honorary Degree Recipients
Robert Menendez has represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate since January 2006, when he was appointed by Gov. Jon Corzine to fill the remainder of Corzine’s term. Later that year, he was elected to serve a full six-year term. Menendez has served as a school board member, a mayor and a state legislator before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1993. He rose to become the third-highest ranking Democrat in the House and has since taken on a prominent leadership role in the U.S. Senate, working to achieve economic security for families by creating jobs, promoting clean-energy development, providing tax relief, investing in education, making health care more affordable and protecting consumers.
Menendez currently serves on the Senate Committees on Finance; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Energy and Natural Resources; and Foreign Relations. He is also chairman of the Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development; and the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection. In November 2008, Menendez was chosen to head the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. His first book, Growing American Roots, was released in October 2009. It examines the deep influence of Latinos on American society and lays out his vision for how the Latino community can help America prosper.
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Honorary degree recipients Lucio |
Lucio C. Tan is one of the most prominent businessmen in the Philippines. Born in China, he moved in his youth to the Philippines with his family, studied chemical engineering in Manila and did odd jobs at a cigar and cigarette factory, working his way up to becoming the company’s chemist. In 1966, he started Fortune Tobacco, which in 2007 entered a partnership with Philip Morris International and is now the dominant cigarette company in the Philippines. From this flagship company, Tan engineered successful ventures in agribusiness; airlines and related services; banking, finance and securities; chemicals; beer and liquor production and distribution; education; hospitality; manufacturing; property development; steel fabrication and construction; and tourism and travel services. The Tan Group of Companies includes Philippine Airlines, Philippine National Bank, Asia Brewery Inc. and Tanduay Distillers Inc.
In 1986, Tan established the Tan Yan Kee Foundation in honor of his father. The foundation’s principal projects support education, culture and sports; health and social welfare; research; and manpower development. Tan has a BS degree in chemical engineering and a PhD in commerce from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila as well as numerous honorary degrees. Among his honors is the 2008 Asia Pacific Entrepreneur Award and Management Man of the Year from the Philippine Council of Management. He was a Distinguished Fellow at the 25th Conference of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Federation of Engineering Associations in 2007 and is founder and vice chairman of the Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education.
Student Pinnacle Award Winners
The 2010 student Pinnacle Awards will be presented to Gerardo Nunez, representing the Metropolitan Campus, and Meghan Droge, College at Florham, who will address the graduates. Filip Krol, FDU-Vancouver Pinnacle recipient, also will be recognized. This is the highest honor the University bestows on a graduating student. One student from each campus, who has demonstrated academic excellence, public service and commitment to the University, is honored each year.
Meghan Droge entered FDU focused mainly on excelling as a volleyball player. But at the College at Florham, she succeeded at a wide range of pursuits: academic interests, writing and editing positions and service projects as well as sports. Droge, of North Merrick, N.Y., is graduating with a BA degree in English literature and minors in legal studies and humanities, taking with her a slew of athletic and scholarly awards. Droge shines in so many areas, in fact, that one of her few remaining challenges is to pick a field — journalism and teaching are leading candidates — for graduate school.
Droge was a four-year starter for the Division III Devils women’s volleyball team, playing right side and serving as team captain for her last two seasons. She was an All-Conference player for the Middle Atlantic Conference in 2008 and 2009, winning the conference Sportsmanship Award for those years as well. In February, Droge represented FDU in receiving a “Woman of the Year Award” from the New Jersey Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.
Droge spent spring semester of her sophomore year at FDU’s Wroxton College. She belonged to several English honor societies and was president of the FDU chapter of Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society. Under her leadership, Sigma Tau Delta dramatically increased its membership and activity.
Throughout her undergraduate years, Droge found jobs and internships related to her career and athletic interests. The past two summers she has worked for AAA New York in Garden City as an editorial Web assistant. After volunteering at FDU Press, she successfully proposed a for-credit publishing internship and, during football training season, Droge helped staff events at the New York Jets’ facility in Florham Park near campus.
Her FDU academic awards include the Lester Robert Dunham Award, given to an outstanding student in the final year of literary study. Droge also won the Outstanding Academic Achievement in Literature Award in 2010, and she has been on the Dean’s List every semester.
Gerardo Nunez, left, and Meghan
Droge
From early on, Gerardo Nunez has been fascinated with growing plants. By age 5, he was planting seeds and trying to grow corn in his urban backyard in Quito, Ecuador. His scientific bent eventually led him to Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he turned his interest in horticulture into an impressive research project and is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biology. Two U.S. universities have offered him a full scholarship leading to a PhD in horticulture.
But Nunez is far from one-dimensional: With a minor in business management, he led one of the University’s largest student organizations, Business Leaders of Tomorrow, in his junior year, then followed that as president of the FDU Green Team. During his tenure, the Green Team joined with the faculty-staff Green Campus Committee to renovate the campus’s 50-year-old greenhouse. Now the greenhouse is being used for enhancing campus landscaping and research — including Nunez’s own senior thesis project on a way to improve a species of exotic wild strawberry that has potential as a commercial crop.
Nunez has also been a senator in the Student Government Association and a resident assistant for the past two years. He participated in Alternative Spring Break activities for two years, helping build homes for underprivileged families in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Miami, Fla. Under his leadership, Business Leaders of Tomorrow increased its community service focus.
Nunez has also been involved with Sands of Time: Exposure to Greatness Program since its inception. His academic achievements include presenting scientific papers at the annual Northeast Regional Honors Council conference for the last three years and the 12th Annual Student Research Symposium of the Hudson-Bergen Chemical Society in April. A member of the University Honors Program, Nunez has made the Dean’s List every semester, and he was awarded a Colonel Fairleigh S. Dickinson Scholarship as well as Campus Service and Student Affairs grants.
Filip Krol
Filip Krol was founder and the president of the FDU-Vancouver student association and helped raise, through the book-rental program he developed, nearly $12,000 in books and cash for the association. He has been treasurer for the Rotaract Club of Vancouver – Yaletown and joined the Vancouver Board of Trade through the Leaders of Tomorrow program. He graduates with a BS degree in business administration with concentrations in finance and international business. He is currently working on opening a company in international trade with his wife.
Commencement Logistics
Faculty, staff and candidates for graduation must arrive at the Izod Center no later than 8:30 a.m. Marshals must arrive by 8 a.m. Because of Arena parking reconfiguration and traffic lane construction in the area, attendees should allow 45 minutes to one hour extra travel time. Families and friends of the graduates should also allow for the extra travel time. Backpacks and large bags will not be permitted for security reasons. Participants should enter the Izod Center through the Arena Public Entry between Gates A and D and use the escalators to go down to the Arena floor level. There, signs will be posted for robing rooms and for volunteers to receive instructions. Students will be lined up on the arena floor level according to degree and by college. All graduates will have their names called and will walk across the stage; photographs will be taken of each graduate.
The ceremony should end before 1 p.m. Graduates will be able to pick up their diplomas in the Offices of Enrollment Services on each campus starting Tuesday, June 22, or diplomas can be mailed to the graduates’ homes.
The College at Florham marshals’ meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 11, in the Student Center. The information about a training session for Metropolitan Campus faculty and staff marshals and volunteers is to be determined, call 201-692-2190.
Faculty and staff must return their academic regalia in the original boxes to their respective campus bookstores no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, May 21. Charges will be incurred if the regalia is not returned on time. Both campus bookstores will be open Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information on commencement and full background information on the honorees, visit http://www.fdu.edu/commencement .
