Brooklyn, N.Y. — At a festive commencement ceremony on Thursday, May 15, more than 1,800 students will graduate from Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus, many of them the first in their families to earn college degrees. The Brooklyn Campus was the first campus established by Long Island University, which has grown to include six metropolitan-area campuses and now is the seventh-largest private university in the country.

            “The Class of 2003 celebrates a marvelous diversity as well as accomplishment against great odds,” said Provost Gale Stevens Haynes. “Our students have proven they have the talent and tenacity to succeed, and I am confident they will make important contributions to their communities and their professions.”

            The commencement speaker will be Emmy-award winning documentary filmmaker Ric Burns, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree for outstanding works that include “New York: A Documentary Film,” “The Civil War” and “Coney Island.”

            Honorary degree recipients also include Ira Greifer, M.D., who is a 1952 Brooklyn Campus alumnus and now president of the Kidney & Urology Foundation of America. He has devoted his life to helping those afflicted with kidney and urologic diseases, particularly children. He will be awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters.

           Esther Cooper Jackson is a longtime civil rights activist as well as Brooklyn resident who has served as managing editor of Freedomways: A Quarterly Review of the Freedom Movement, which she founded with W.E.B. Du Bois, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis and others. She will receive the Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

           Richard Rodriquez is a prolific author who often explores the dilemma of cultural identity. His acclaimed writing includes books such as “Brown: the Last Discovery of America” and “Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father” and his essays for the PBS Program, “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” He will receive the Doctor of Letters.

           Distinguished Alumni Awards will be presented to two extraordinary Brooklyn Campus graduates: Dr. Ellyn Altman ’63, ’68, ’72, ‘73, noted educator and psychologist, who has given many years of service to the New York State Psychological Association and as a mental health consultant to the Great Neck Community School, and Albert Vann ‘74, whose outstanding public career includes 27 years of service in the State legislature on behalf of his Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood and, since 2001, in the City Council for Brooklyn’s 36^th Council District. He also serves as a board member of the New York City Black Leadership Commission on AIDS.

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2003 Commencement
Brooklyn Campus, Long Island University

            The class valedictorian is Jason Altilio, a 21-year-old philosophy major and Staten Island resident who participated in the  prestigious University Honors Program and earned a 3.99 G.P.A. Altilio has been accepted by two philosophy Ph.D. programs.

           The Brooklyn Campus Secondary School Teacher of the Year Award for 2003 will be given to Lauren Rosenberg, a third-year social studies teacher at Brooklyn Technical High School, where her exceptional commitment to students has helped her classes achieve a 99% passing rate in the state Regents exam.

           Long Island University President David J. Steinberg will confer degrees on the 1, 849 members of the Class of 2003, which includes 880 undergraduate and 969 graduate students, with 18 doctoral candidates in clinical psychology.

 

Commencement Schedule
When :	10:15 a.m., Thursday, May 15
Where:	Brooklyn Campus Athletic Field (back of Campus at Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues)
Post-Commencement Barbeque
When:	Noon, Thursday, May 15
Where:	Campus Quad Area
Contact:	Public Relations Office
	718-488-1015

 

The Brooklyn Campus, with more than 11,000 full- and part-time students and dynamic curricula reflecting the great urban community it serves, is one of six campuses of Long Island University, the seventh-largest private university in the United States. Its distinctive programs encompass the arts and media, natural sciences, business, social policy, urban education, the health professions, and the Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. The Campus offers Ph.D. programs in clinical psychology and pharmaceutics, the D.P.T. in physical therapy as well as the Pharm.D. in pharmacy. Construction will begin on a new Performing Arts Complex — including the 350-seat Steven and Peggy Kumble Theater — and a $35 million recreation, athletics and wellness center within the next year.