Former POW Porter Halyburton, whose moving address on The Legacies of Vietnam was a highlight at the University of Rhode Island Fall Honors Colloquium, has been asked to address the university’s 114th Commencement. Halyburton will speak at the undergraduate Commencement ceremonies to be held on Sunday, May 21 at 12:30 p.m. on the Kingston Campus. ”As this spring marks the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War we are delighted that Porter Halyburton has accepted our invitation to return to campus to speak to the entire university community at our undergraduate commencement,” URI President Robert Carothers said. “Those who attended his lecture earlier this year found both his message and his delivery to be gripping and inspirational. Rising above personal sacrifice, Mr. Halyburton remains a role model for peace and understanding.”
Nominated by many of the students and faculty who attended the fall colloquium, Halyburton will be presented an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during the commencement ceremony.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
”I think Porter Halyburton is an ideal choice as commencement speaker. As we all head out on our diverse paths, the senior class will leave URI having heard an enlightening tale of forgiveness and understanding from a heroic, yet humble individual,” said graduating senior Kyle Zambarano, a history and political science major who participated in the Honors Program and also served this year on the university’s Honorary Degree Committee.
Born in Davidson, NC, Halyburton left the United States in May of 1965 for Vietnam as a naval flight officer with his first squadron, VF-84. During the following six months, he flew 75 combat missions before being shot down and captured on October 17, 1965. He was the 40th American prisoner taken in North Vietnam. After his capture, he was listed as killed in action, and his hometown led a memorial service in his honor. A year and a half later, a Vietnamese informant revealed that Halyburton was still alive and his status was upgraded to prisoner of war. He was held as a POW for seven-and-a-half years. In 1973, he was released following the signing of the Paris Peace Accords.
Upon his return to the United States, Halyburton was assigned to the Naval ROTC Unit at Georgia Tech. During this time, he also finished his graduate studies in Journalism at the University of Georgia. Halyburton was then assigned to the Naval War College in Newport, where he has been on the faculty as professor of strategy since his retirement from active naval service as a commander in 1984.
Halyburton’s military decorations include the Silver Star, three Purple Hearts, the Legion of Merit, three Bronze Stars, seven Air Medals, a Navy Commendation Medal, and the POW Medal. The Navy Department awarded him the Meritorious Civilian Service Award.
A resident of Bristol, Halyburton currently serves on the board of directors of Save Blithewold, Inc. He is a guest lecturer at Brown University, CCRI and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts. He has served as president of the DeKalb Council for the Arts, chairman of the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, chairman of the Blithewold Advisory Council, vice chairman of The Heritage Trust of Rhode Island and senior warden of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Other honorary degree recipients include:
Lt. General Bruce Blount, the first URI alumnus to rise to the rank of three-star general, he also holds the Korean Chung Mu and the US Army’s Distinguished Army Medal. A resident of Columbia, South Carolina, Blount will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Robert J. Higgins, a banking industry veteran with over thirty years of experience, currently holds the position of president and chief operating office of Fleet Bank in Connecticut. A resident of Providence, Higgins will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws.
Reverend Dr. Virgil Wood, who serves as pastor of the Pond Street Baptist Church in Providence. Nationally recognized as a church leader, educator, scholar, civil rights leader and activist who is committed to the struggle for economic and spiritual development among the nation’s disadvantaged, Wood, a resident of Providence, will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
Bryant Commencement May 20
Bryant holds its 137th Undergraduate Commencement on Saturday, May 20, at 10 a.m. with 552 students expected to receive degrees. Commencement exercises for 137 graduate students will be held on Friday, May 19 at 4 p.m. Both ceremonies will take place under a tent adjacent to the Bryant Center.
Richard F. Syron will be the keynote speaker for the Graduate Commencement. President and CEO of Thermo Electron Corporation, a $4 billion multi-industry company located in Waltham, Mass., is the world’s leading manufacturer of instruments that monitor, collect and analyze information for a broad range of industries. Syron will receive a Doctor of Business Administration.
David S. Wetherell, chairman and CEO of CMGI, will be the keynote speaker for the Undergraduate Commencement. Located in Andover, Mass. CMGI has a portfolio of more than 70 Internet companies including stakes in companies such as Alta Vista, Lycos, and iCast. Wetherell effected a leverage buyout of CMGI and has served as chairman and CEO since 1986. He will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters.
Also receiving honorary degrees are O. Rogeriee Thompson, an associate justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and Rajendra B. Vattikuit, president and CEO, Complete Business Solutions Inc., Farmington, Michigan.
Thompson became Rhode Island’s first black woman justice of the Supreme Court in 1997. Prior to her current position, she was a member of the Rhode Island District Court bench for 10 years. Before being nominated to the judiciary, Judge Thompson was a partner in the law firm of Thompson and Thompson, specializing in Native American Law, civil rights, personal injury, family and real estate law. She served as a member of Bryant’s board of trustees from 1988 to 1997.
Vattikuti has served as president and CEO of Complete Business Solutions since its formation in 1985. The company provides a variety of information technology services, including software development, package software implementation, contract programming, and IT strategy mainly to mid-sized clients in the financial services, health care, manufacturing, retail and utility industries. CBSI has been public since 1997 and had sales of more than $462 million in 1999.
Keynote speakers at RISD
Glass artists Jaroslava Brychtova and Stanislav Libensky will offer this year’s keynote address at the Rhode Island School of Design’s 117th Commencement, which will take place on Saturday, June 3, at 10 a.m.
The two will receive honorary degrees along with RISD Trustee Sidney F. Greenwals, and painter/printmaker Paula Rego.
Commencement 2000 festivities will kick off Friday June 2, at 8:30 p.m. with “Water/Fire,” and installment by Providence artist Barnaby Evans which features floating bonfires and evocative music. Other special events occurring around the weekend include the Annual Graduate Student Exhibition on view at the RISD Museum through June 4; the Senior Film/Animation/Video Festival Graduation Show on June 2, at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., at the RISD Auditorium; the Senior Invitational, which is displayed in the Woods Gerry Gallery until June 4; as well as a reception for new alumni on Benefit Street immediately following Saturday’s ceremony.
