Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. ’82 (D-Pennsylvania) to Deliver Commencement Address at Holy Cross

Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. ’82 (D-Pennsylvania) 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 22 at 10:30 a.m. on the campus.

Elected in 2006, Sen. Casey is the son of the late governor of Pennsylvania Robert Casey ’53, who received his honorary degree from Holy Cross in 1988.  After graduating from Holy Cross, Sen. Casey taught fifth grade and coached eighth grade basketball in inner city Philadelphia for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. He received his law degree from Catholic University in 1988 and entered the practice of law in Scranton.  Before his election to the Senate, he served for eight years as Pennsylvania Auditor General and two years as State Treasurer.

As senator, his priorities include working to foster financial security for American families, protect children and invest in their futures and ensure safety at home and respect abroad.  He was a strong advocate for legislation that has expanded the State Children’s Health Insurance program, authored the Prepare All Kids Act to expand access to early childhood education and he also played a key role in passing provisions vital for Pennsylvania agriculture, conservation and nutrition programs.

Casey serves on numerous Senate committees including Foreign Relations; Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Joint Economic Committee.  Additionally, he serves as the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs.

Casey and his wife, Terese ’82, live in Scranton with their four daughters Elyse, Caroline, Julia and Marena.

Elizabeth M. Morse, of Shelton, Conn., has been selected to deliver the class of 2009 valedictory address.  A biology major with a concentration in biochemistry, Morse has won several awards for academic achievement, including a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and an American Cancer Society Fuller Fellowship in 2008, and two prestigious College prizes, the Mrs. Kate C. Power Medal and the Teresa A. Churilla Sophomore Biology Award, in 2007. Upon graduation, she will conduct research in biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

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

Rev. George V. Coyne, S.J. As Director of the Vatican Observatory (he was appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1978, retiring in 2006), Fr. Coyne, an acclaimed astronomer, was a driving force in several new educational and research initiatives, including the Vatican Observatory Summer Schools and the Vatican Observatory Research Group in Tucson, Ariz. Fr. Coyne became a member of the Society of Jesus in 1951. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1965. He also has an asteroid named after him.

Sister Maureen Fay O.P., Ph.D. The former president of University of Detroit Mercy (1994-2004), Dr. Fay was the first non-Jesuit president of any Jesuit college or university in the country.  She has served on many corporate and not for profit boards and is currently directing the Leadership Seminar for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.  A Chicago native, Dr. Fay earned her M.A. from the University of Detroit in 1966 before receiving her doctorate from the University of Chicago in social sciences in 1976.

Ogretta McNeil, Ph.D. Serving 27 years as a member of the Holy Cross community before her retirement in 1997, McNeil chaired the psychology department, helped develop the College’s African American Concentration, and led the earliest version of the ALANA program (persons of African-American, Latin American, Asian-American, and Native American heritage). She was elected to the Worcester School Committee for five consecutive terms, where she was committed to the academic achievement of all students and supported the development of education programs that meet the individual needs of each child. She remains a vigorous presence in community service and cultural organizations in Worcester.

Bartlett Sher ’81 An acclaimed Tony Award-winning director and artistic director of the Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Sher received a Tony Award in 2008 for best director of a musical for the Lincoln Center Theater revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. Sher received Tony Award nominations for two previous productions in New York, Awake and Sing! and The Light in the Piazza. He recently directed a new production of Roméo et Juliette at the Salzburg Festival and is currently directing August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone for the Lincoln Center Theater.  His upcoming productions include Othello for Intiman and The Tales of Hoffmann for the Metropolitan Opera. Sher remains very supportive of the Holy Cross theatre program and has returned to campus to meet with students.  He also has been frequently quoted about the profound influence his Jesuit education has had on his life and his work.