Kevin M. Cahill M.D., International Humanitarian, to Deliver Commencement Address at Holy Cross

Kevin M. Cahill, M.D., a driving force in humanitarian assistance and relief efforts across the globe for more than 45 years and a leading specialist in tropical medicine, will receive an honorary degree from the College of the Holy Cross and address this year’s graduates during the College’s Commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 23 at 10:30 a.m. on the campus.

Physician, teacher, activist, diplomat, and advocate, Cahill is the director of the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, president of the Center for International Health and Cooperation and a University Professor at Fordham University. He serves as the director of the Tropical Disease Center at Lenox Hill Hospital, and has done extensive research and aid work in Africa, Latin America, and the Near and Far East. He is professor of International Humanitarian Affairs at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, senior consultant to the United Nations Health Service, and president-general of the American-Irish Historical Society.

Cahill received degrees from Fordham University, Cornell University School of Medicine, The Royal College of Surgeons in England and The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Upon completing his medical degree in 1961, Cahill was awarded a grant to work in Calcutta where he worked with Mother Teresa. He served as director of Clinical Tropical Medicine in Egypt and Sudan while in the U.S. Navy, and continued active medical research for the next forty years in Africa, Latin America, the Near and Far East, with long-term programs in Somalia, Sudan, India and Nicaragua.

He has written or edited 29 books and more than 200 articles on subjects including tropical disease, the global land mine crisis, and health and foreign policy.

James Michael Brennan will give the 2008 valedictory address. Upon graduation, Brennan will complete his B.A. with majors in political science and Russian.  He is a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science Honor Society, and Dobro Slovo, the National Slavic Honor Society.  He studied in St. Petersburg, Russia during the fall of his junior year. A member of the College Honors Program, Brennan is completing his thesis on subaltern resistance to the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s. Brennan has been a tutor for the Writers Workshop and Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD). This year he served as the director of academic concerns for the Student Government Association (SGA) and has been active in campus ministry throughout his college career.

The College will also bestow four other honorary degrees to the following individuals at Commencement:

David Anderson Class of 1951 Winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, Anderson is one of the most acclaimed sports writers of our time.  He retired from full time employment at The New York Times in 2007, but still contributes his sports column.  Prior to joining the Times in 1966 (working first as a general assignment reporter and then, in 1971, as a sports columnist), Anderson was a member of the sports staff of the now defunct New York Journal-American for 11 years. Before that, he was a sports writer with the Brooklyn Eagle, which folded in 1955.  He is the author of 21 books and has written more than 350 magazine articles.   He received the 1994 Associated Press Sports Editors Red Smith Award for distinguished sports column writing. He was inducted into the National Sports Writers and Sportscasters Hall of Fame in Salisbury, N.C. in 1990.

Rev. Robert Athickal, S.J. A native of India, Fr. Athickal founded Tarumitra (Hindi for “Friends of the Trees”) with some high school students in 1988 in Patna, India.  Later, his Jesuit superior missioned him to be the adviser and support person for this movement—and in 2004, the United Nations accepted Tarumitra for non-governmental status.  Tarumitra currently enrolls 55,000 members through 900 high schools and colleges in 18 states of India, and student delegates attend global conferences around the world every year. Fr. Athickal has built a bio-reserve and training center on 10 acres of the property of the Jesuit novitiate in the state of Bihar.  At one time there were thousands of species of plants and trees in Bihar; now there are less than 50.  In addition to cultivating different plants, shrubs, and trees, students come to the center to learn simple and effective methods for sustaining the environment, to acquire effective skills to handle local environmental problems, to organize campaigns to preserve bio-diversity, and to promote a spirituality that befriends the earth.

Donald P. Moriarty Class of 1952 Former member of the Holy Cross Board of Trustees and longtime head of its investment committee, Moriarty is a philanthropist with wide-ranging interests.  In addition to his generous support of the College over many years—support which has directly benefited Holy Cross’ students, faculty, and academic programs—he is an honorary trustee of the nonpartisan Carnegie Council, a leading voice promoting ethical leadership on issues of war, peace, religion in politics, and global social justice. The council convenes agenda-setting forums and creates educational opportunities and information resources for a worldwide audience of teachers and students, journalists, international affairs professionals, and concerned citizens.  In addition, Moriarty, the father of five Holy Cross graduates, is general partner of the investment company Twin Oaks Partners in New Jersey. Previously, he was managing partner of William A. M. Burden & Co. in New York.  He also was a member of the Florence V. Burden Foundation, the Summit & Elizabeth Trust Co., and the Overlook Hospital Foundation (Summit, N.J.). Currently, he is a member of the Investment Policy Committee of the Smithsonian Institution.

James A. Welu Since 1974, Welu—an acclaimed scholar of 17th-century Dutch art—has worked as a curator at the Worcester Art Museum and since 1986 as its director.  Under his leadership, the museum has increased visitors through innovative partnerships, such as “Flora in Winter” in collaboration with Tower Hill Botanical Garden.  In addition, he has invigorated the museum’s educational programs to the point where 7,000 children, teens, and adults take classes not only in traditional subjects like painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography, but also in comic art, Web page design, and computer animation.  In addition to ensuring that the museum is a vital cultural resource for all citizens of Worcester, Welu has forged a deep and lasting connection with Holy Cross. His personal interest in the Hope and Healing exhibition, co-curated by Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., associate professor of history at Holy Cross, made it possible for this show to take place in Worcester, in collaboration with Clark University and Holy Cross.  The museum’s library operates in partnership with Holy Cross, and at least three members of the College’s faculty are Corporators of the Museum.