Commencement at CCSU

Central Connecticut State University's annual Commencement Exercises are held each May at the XL Center in Hartford. In most years, a separate graduation ceremony for recipients of advanced degrees is held on campus at Herbert D. Welte Hall.

The ceremony is usually declared "open" by the president of CCSU's faculty senate. This is followed by the national anthem, sung by the CCSU University Singers, an invocation by a member of the campus ministry, greetings from state officials, and brief remarks from the president of the CCSU Alumni Association and from a student representing the graduands.

This is followed by a commencement address by a previously announced speaker, the singing of the Alma Mater, and the conferral of degrees. At Hartford commencements, a pair of announcers (often including professor Gil Gigliotti) read the names of each graduate present at the ceremony, after which the event ends with the drop of hundreds of balloons from the ceiling of the XL Center.^[1] There is no ceremonial recession.

CCSU's Wind Symphony provides processional and incidental music before and during the ceremony. Both the Wind Symphony and University Singers perform under the direction of professors from CCSU's Department of Music.

The procession includes the University Mace (usually borne by the president of CCSU's faculty senate) and occasionally the University Staff. Peter J. Vernesoni, a CCSU graduate and professor from 1971 to 2003, designed and carved both of these artifacts.^[2]

CCSU commencement speakers since 2005

CCSU's commencement speakers are often successful alumni such as Congressman John B. Larson (D-1st), CitiFinancial CEO Michael Knapp, and CCSU professor Kristine Larsen. The table below lists speakers since 2005.

academic year	date a	location	address given by	degrees conferred
2005-06	December 17, 2005 b	CCSU	John W. Miller, CCSU president	graduate only
	May 20, 2006	Hartford	Bob Englehart, editorial cartoonist, the Hartford Courant	undergraduate only
	Thursday, May 25, 2006	CCSU	Bob Englehart	graduate only
2006-07	December 16, 2006	CCSU	Denise L. Nappier, Connecticut State Treasurer	all
	May 19, 2007 c	Hartford	Joseph J. Grano, Jr., CEO, Centurion Holdings	all
2007-08	May 17, 2008	Hartford	M. Jodi Rell, Governor of Connecticut	all
2008-09	May 23, 2009	Hartford	Carol A. Ammon, founder, Endo Pharmaceuticals	undergraduate only
	Wednesday, May 27, 2009	CCSU	Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., former Governor of Connecticut	graduate only

The information in this table was compiled from CCSU's Commencement Exercises programs, 2005-2009.

Notes: (a) All dates are Saturdays unless noted otherwise. (b) Miller's investiture as president preceded the conferral of degrees. (c) Grano was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters during the ceremony.

Recipients of CCSU Honorary Degrees

CCSU has awarded 52 honorary doctoral degrees since 1985.^[3] Awardees have included the CEOs or Chairmen of six major corporations, four U.S. Presidents, and heads of state of Canada, Germany, Hungary, and Poland.

awardee		date	degree*
Adachihara !Shigenori Adachihara	Mayor, Atsugi City, Japan	05/23/1990	L.H.D.
Akrofi !Rt. Rev. Justice Akrofi†	Bishop of Accra, Ghana	05/18/2000	L.H.D.
Antall, Jr. !Jozsef Antall, Jr.	Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary	09/30/1991	LL.D.
Boyer !Ernest L. Boyer	President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching	10/05/1987	L.H.D.
Burns !J. William Burns	Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Transportation	01/03/1995	LL.D.
Bush, G H !George H. W. Bush	President of the United States	03/11/1999	LL.D.
Bush, G W !George W. Bush	President of the United States	04/18/2001	LL.D.
Butman !Alexander M. Butman	Executive Director, Emergency Training Institute	04/28/1994	Sc.D.
Campo !Dave Campo†	Head Coach, Dallas Cowboys	05/22/1999	D.H.P.Ed.
Carter !Jimmy Carter	President of the United States	04/16/1985	L.H.D.
Chomsky !Noam Chomsky	Professor of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology	11/04/2003	L.H.D.
Choue !Young Seek Choue	Chancellor, Kyung Hee University	10/22/1991	L.H.D.
Choue !Chungwon Choue	President, Kyung Hee University	05/23/1998	L.H.D.
Chung !Mong Koo Chung	Chairman, Hyundai Precision and Industry Company	05/26/1989	L.H.D.
Clarke !Simon A. Clarke	Education Advisor to UNESCO	05/24/1991	L.H.D.
Custis !Lemuel Rodney Custis	Capitan (Connecticut Tuskegee Airmen)	05/26/2001	L.H.D.
Davis !Donald W. Davis	Chairman, The Stanley Works	05/26/1989	L.H.D.
Dieterich !Rainer Dieterich	Universität der Bundeswehr, Hamburg	05/25/2002	Sc.D.
Ficili !Bruno Ficili	Commissioner of Education, Siracusa, Sicily	10/23/1996	L.H.D.
Ford !Gerald R. Ford	President of the United States	03/23/1988	L.H.D.
Futrell !Mary Hatwood Futrell	President, National Education Association	10/04/1988	L.H.D.
Grano !Joseph J. Grano, Jr.	Chairman and CEO, Centurion Holdings, LLC	05/19/2007	L.H.D.
Gray !Harry Jack Gray	Chairman and CEO, United Technologies Corporation	05/17/1985	D.S.Sc
Hall !Edward T. Hall	1st Lieutenant (Connecticut Tuskegee Airmen)	05/26/2001	L.H.D.
Hoffleit !E. Dorrit Hoffleit	Senior Research Astronomer Emeritus, Yale University	10/20/1998	Sc.D.
Hooks !Benjamin L. Hooks	Executive Director, NAACP	05/20/1988	L.H.D.
Huang !C. J. Huang	Chairman, C. J. Huang Foundation	05/10/1990	L.H.D.
James !F. Don James	CCSU President Emeritus	10/16/2003	L.H.D.
Jensen !Eric Jensen	Deputy to the Under-Secretary-General, United Nations	05/27/1993	L.H.D.
Kelly !Peter G. Kelly	Senior Principal, Updike, Kelly & Spellacy	02/25/2003	LL.D.
Kirkpatrick !Jeane Kirkpatrick	United States Representative to the United Nations	04/04/1991	L.H.D.
Kissinger !Henry A. Kissinger	Secretary of State of the United States	03/24/1987	D.S.Sc
Knapp !Michael S. Knapp†	President and CEO, CitiFinancial	05/25/2002	D.C.Sc.
Macpherson-Russell !Phyllis Macpherson-Russell†	Minister of Education, Jamaica	12/04/1999	Sc.D.
Mainella !Fran P. Mainella†	Director, National Park Service	05/23/2002	D.P.S.
McQuillan !Paul J.McQuillan	Attorney, Januszewski, McQuillan & DeNigris	02/23/2004	D.C.J.
Mitchell !George J. Mitchell	U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader	04/12/2000	LL.D.
Mulroney !Brian Mulroney	Prime Minister of Canada	04/26/1994	D.S.Sc
Nappier !Connie Nappier, Jr.	Flight Officer (Connecticut Tuskegee Airmen)	05/26/2001	L.H.D.
Novello !Antonia Coello Novello	Surgeon General of the United States	05/28/1993	Sc.D.
O’Leary !Vincent O’Leary	President, State University of New York at Albany	05/28/1994	D.S.Sc
Okolica !Rabbi Henry Okolica	CCSU Campus Clergy	05/22/2003	D.P.S.
Rosselló !Irma Margarita Nevares de Rosselló	First Lady of Puerto Rico	05/20/1999	L.H.D.
Rothenbiller !Franz J. Rothenbiller	Lord Mayor of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany	06/06/1991	L.H.D.
Schmidt !Helmut Schmidt	Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany	04/28/1993	L.H.D.
Tomasso !Angelo Tomasso, Jr.	Chairman and CEO, Tilcon, Inc	05/25/1990	L.H.D.
Vincent !Francis T. Vincent, Jr.	Commissioner, Major League Baseball	04/28/1992	L.H.D.
Walden !Cecile A. Walden	Principal, Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College, Montego Bay, Jamaica	05/27/2004	Ped.D.
Wałęsa !Lech Wałęsa	President of Poland	04/10/1996	L.H.D.
Wilson !Bertram W. Wilson	Lieutenant Colonel (Connecticut Tuskegee Airmen)	05/26/2001	L.H.D.
Wiszniewski !Andrzej Wiszniewski	Rector, Technical University of Wrocław	05/28/1993	Sc.D.
Wodarski !Rt. Rev. Msgr. John Paul Wodarski	Pastor Emeritus, Holy Cross Church, New Britain	04/29/1999	L.H.D.

Notes: † recipient is a CCSU graduate; * abbreviated degree names: D.C.J.: Doctor of Criminal Justice; D.C.Sc.: Doctor of Commercial Science; D.H.P.Ed.: Doctor of Health and Physical Education; D.P.S.: Doctor of Public Service; D.S.Sc: Doctor of Social Science; L.H.D.: Doctor of Humane Letters; LL.D.: Doctor of Laws; Ped.D.: Doctor of Pedagogy; Sc.D.: Doctor of Science.

References

1. ^ Abel, Jennifer. Messages of hope heard at CCSU ceremony. New Britain Herald, 5/24/09. Retrieved on 2009-9-9.
2. ^ Central Connecticut State University (May 17, 2008). Commencement Exercises, p. 34.
3. ^ Central Connecticut State University (May 23, 2009). Commencement Exercises, p. 48-49.