DARTMOUTH – On May 1 the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth announced its three student commencement speakers who will address their classmates during the year’s closing events between Saturday, May 13 and Monday, May 15.
Michael Savaria of Westport, Mass., who is receiving a doctorate degree in educational leadership and policy studies – his fourth degree from UMass Dartmouth – will speak at the graduate ceremony. His research has focused on creating equal educational opportunities for all individuals, identifying pedagogical methods and administrative policies to increase the recruitment and retention of women and other groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics college majors.
Undergraduate ceremony speaker, Brandi Bass of Springfield, Mass., will receive a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a business administration minor. At UMass Dartmouth she served as peer mentor for the Center for Access and Success, admissions ambassador, president and founder of Helping Each Other Rise Organization, Student Government Association senator for the College of Arts and Sciences, public relations officer for the Resident Student Association, member of Creating Acceptance Through Relationships and Empowerment, member of Share Esperanza, Leduc Center for Civic Engagement volunteer and member of the International Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society.
Receiving her juris doctorate degree, Sheyla Lors of Brooklyn, N.Y., will speak at the law school ceremony. A daughter of two Haitian immigrants, Lors focused her studies on international and human rights law. After sitting for the bar exam in the coming months, she plans to provide pro bono legal services to marginalized groups in Cape Town, South Africa.
UMass Dartmouth’s undergraduate and graduate ceremonies will be held at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Mass., on Saturday, May 13. The graduate ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. when MacArthur Foundation managing director Cecilia Conrad will be awarded an honorary degree and author and LGBT activist Jennifer Finney Boylan will receive the Chancellor’s Medal.
At the 2:30 p.m. undergraduate ceremonies, National Public Radio legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg will receive an honorary degree and Obama White House chief photographer and Dartmouth native Pete Souza will receive the Chancellor’s Medal.
The School of Law ceremony will be held at the Main Auditorium on the UMass Dartmouth campus at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 15. Southern Poverty Law Center founder and chief trial attorney Morris Dees will receive an honorary degree.
The university expects to award more than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees this spring.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a PBN staff writer.
