WNYC’S
LEONARD LOPATE GIVES KEYNOTE ADDRESS
AT HUNTER COLLEGE’S 191ST COMMENCEMENT
Ellen
Barkin Receives Honorary Degree
Date: June
8, 2005
Contact: Meredith Halpern (meredith.halpern@hunter.cuny.edu)
Phone: (212) 772-4068
(June 8, 2005) New York, NY –
Leonard Lopate, the host of the acclaimed public radio talk show The
Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC, addressed more than 2,000 graduates and
their families at Hunter College's 191st Commencement on Wednesday,
June 8, at Radio City Music Hall. Lopate also received an honorary
doctorate of humane letters from Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab.
During the
commencement exercises, President Raab also conferred an honorary
doctorate of fine arts on Ellen Barkin, one of the most respected
and versatile actresses on the screen. A true product of New York,
Barkin was born in the Bronx and raised in Queens. She studied history
and drama at Hunter College in the 1970s.
Also participating
in the graduation ceremony was New York Lottery’s Yolanda Vega,
a 1977 alumna of Hunter College. Vega, who majored in economics at
Hunter, received the Outstanding Alumna of the Year Award during the
ceremony.
Among the 2,000 graduates who received their degrees was Valedictorian
Ruben Pinkhasov, a biological sciences major with a 3.97 GPA. Pinkhasov
came to New York from Khazistan as a child knowing no English. He
will enter Drexel University Medical School in the fall. Many of the
students participating in Hunter's 191st commencement ceremony are
first-generation Americans as well as the first in their families
to matriculate and graduate from college.
Hunter awarded degrees to 1,392 undergraduates: 1,301 in the School
of Arts and Sciences; 106 in the Schools of the Health Professions;
and one in the School of Education. Seven hundred forty-two students
received graduate degrees: 229 in the School of Arts and Sciences;
243 in the School of Education; 122 in the Schools of the Health Professions
and 149 in the School of Social Work.
About Hunter
With a highly diverse student population of more than 20,000, Hunter is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system and the first choice among all CUNY applicants. Founded in 1870, the College offers more than 170 undergraduate and graduate programs. Hunter is noted for its professional schools in education, health sciences, nursing and social work, as well as its excellence in the liberal arts. Heralded as the "Crown Jewel of CUNY" by The Princeton Review, Hunter College has a distinguished reputation for nurturing talented minority scientists and meeting the challenge of providing high-quality science education in the 21st century. The College also oversees the Hunter College Campus Schools serving gifted and talented students, preschool through grade 12. For more
information about Hunter College, please visit our Web site at http://www.hunter.cuny.edu.
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