JSC Confers 405 Degrees

May 15, 2011

The 144th Commencement exercises of Johnson State College took place Saturday, May 14,2011. The ceremony was held on the South Lawn of the JSC campus overlooking College Hill.

The College conferred 405 degrees, broken down as follows: 285 B.A., 12 B.F.A., 32 B.S., 56 M.A., 2 M.F.A, and 18 associate’s degrees.

The Commencement speaker was Marie Kennedy, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and currently visiting professor of urban planning at UCLA’s School of Public Affairs, who combines the roles of activist and scholar in her teaching and work in community development, “participatory action research,” community development and empowerment, and Latin American social movements. She is a leader in service learning and sponsored two programs through which low-income women were supported in acquiring a college education while focusing their academic work on issues of importance to homeless and low-income women. She has worked extensively with community organizations in the Greater Boston area as well as in San Francisco, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Mexico; was a Fulbright Scholar at the Colegio de Tlaxcala in Mexico in 2007; serves on the board of directors of Grassroots International; is co-chair of the steering committee of Planners Network; and is an editor of Progressive Planning.

She was joined on the podium by three student speakers: Addie Thompson of New Haven, VT (B.A., English, with secondary licensure); Derek Murphy of East Burke, VT (B.A., Professional Studies through JSC’s External Degree Program); and Brenton Litterer of Waterbury (M.A., Counseling).