College Relations
2004 Commencement Speakers Announced At Salem State College
April 6, 2004
CONTACT --- Karen Cady at 978-542-7500 or karen.cady@salemstate.edu
 Salem, Mass. - Marian L. Heard, president and CEO of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, and Dr. Judah Folkman, internationally renowned surgeon, medical researcher, and senior associate in surgery at Children's Hospital in Boston, will be the keynote speakers at Salem State College's commencements in May.
Heard will be the speaker during Salem State College's graduate commencement at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 20 in the O'Keefe Sports Complex. Folkman will address the undergraduate commencement at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 22, also in the O'Keefe Sports Complex.
Both Heard and Folkman will receive honorary degrees.
 Often referred to as the most honored United Way chief executive in America, and a champion for youth, Heard was appointed president and CEO of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and CEO of the United Way of New England in February of 1992. She is on the boards of FleetBoston Financial, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Liberty Mutual Group, and CVS.
Heard also is a trustee at Berea College (KY) and the New England Aquarium. In addition, she is the founding president and CEO of the Points of Light Foundation, organized to perpetuate former President George Bush's call for volunteers to address serious social problems in our nation.
After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, Folkman practiced medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Boston City Hospital, and Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston. During his 14-year tenure as surgeon-in-chief at Children's Hospital, Dr. Folkman began a major laboratory effort on the study of angiogenesis.
Folkman's discoveries on angiogenesis opened a field of investigation now pursued worldwide. Clinical trials of angiogenesis inhibition are now under way and, as a result, the possibility of anti-angiogenic therapy is on a firm scientific foundation. He is the author of 369 peer-reviewed research essays and is a diplomat of the American Board of Surgery and of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.
The college expects to confer 450 graduate degrees on May 20 and 850 undergraduate degrees on May 22.
|
)
)