Pathbreaking Broadcaster and Community Leader, Reverend Liz Walker, Gives Graduation Address
BOSTON, MA — Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies celebrated Spring 2011 Graduation on Saturday, April 30, 2011, conferring 739 degrees. Interim Dean John LaBrie welcomed an assembled group of more than 2,000 people comprised of graduates, family members and friends, faculty, administration leaders, and staff at the Westin Copley Place, Boston to celebrate the academic accomplishments of the spring class of 2011. The College of Professional Studies celebrates two graduations, fall and spring, in keeping with the College’s flexible approach to education offering an array of options to students including part-time and full-time studies, Fast-Track, online, and hybrid formats. Graduates earned diplomas in 58 different degree programs at the associate, bachelor, master’s, and doctoral levels. Some graduates traveled a few blocks or miles to attend the ceremony, while two others traveled from Singapore.
LaBrie described one of the College’s greatest strengths: “If you look at the graduates in this room, you will see a vibrant spectrum of diversity that is truly reflective of the global community in which you will take your place as innovators, thoughtful leaders, and change agents. You represent diverse nations, genders, religions, and orientations. This diversity has added a unique flavor to CPS classrooms and enhanced the learning process — providing an educational experience that cannot be matched.”
Graduation speaker, Reverend Liz Walker, award-winning television journalist, documentary film producer, entrepreneur, and humanitarian gave the graduation address, offering insights from her own experience of studying for a master’s degree mid-career and her involvement in humanitarian work in Sudan.
“I have spent the last 10 years making a transition from a career to a calling,” said Walker. “A career is what most of us want, it gives you a way to pay the bills, it gives you status, but we are living in times that demand more of us.”
Walker described the inspiration she derived from the perseverance, dignity, and resilience of the Sudanese people she came to know in her effort to help establish a school for girls “in the middle of the bush, in one of the most isolated places in the world.”
Walker sent off CPS graduates with these words: “To be called is to listen to the world around you and listen to your heart … There is something calling you to something greater, to be faithful to this moment, to step out and do something great for this world.”
First diplomas
Several undergraduate programs awarded their first diplomas this year, including : Bachelor of Science in Leadership – Global Classroom, Bachelor of Science in Leadership, Fast-Track, online cohort, Bachelor of Science in Health Management, Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting Management, and Bachelor of Science in Management – Singapore.
More about graduation
To read about graduates’ experiences at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies (CPS), plans after graduation, and advice to current CPS students working towards their degrees, along with speakers’ words of encouragement, visit Voices from Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies Graduation.
To learn more about graduation, visit: http://cps.neu.edu/student-resources/graduation/index.php. The fall 2011 graduation will be held on Saturday, September 17.
Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies (CPS) is committed to providing career-focused educational programs that are designed to accommodate the complex lives of motivated learners. Offered in a variety of innovative formats, CPS courses are taught by accomplished scholars and practitioners who have real-world experience. The result is an educational experience founded on proven scholarship, strengthened with practical application, and sustained by academic excellence.
Northeastern University is a global university with a tradition of partnership and engagement that creates an innovative, distinctive approach to education and research. Northeastern integrates classroom studies with experiential learning opportunities in 70 countries, and pursues use-inspired research with a focus on global challenges in health, security, and sustainability.