SJC to Award Three Honorary Degrees at 75th Commencement on May 16
More than 400 undergraduate and graduate students will receive their degrees at Saint Joseph College’s 75th Commencement on Sunday, May 16 at 10:00 a.m. under the tent on the main quad of the school’s West Hartford campus. Three accomplished women, who have served as exemplary leaders in their respective fields, will be recognized as recipients of honorary degrees and will address Saint Joseph College’s class of 2010 at the event:
Frances Shea Buckley is a retired naval nurse who was one of the highest-ranking women in the Navy Nursing Corps. In 1979 she was named Rear Admiral - the only women so named at that time - and served as Director of the Navy Nursing Corps from 1979 - 1983. Her Navy career began in 1951 and spanned a broad spectrum of assignments: Operating Room Instructor at the Naval Hospital in St. Albans, NY; Operating Room Supervisor aboard the USS Repose off the coast of South Vietnam where she was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for exemplary performance; and Chief of Nursing Service at Bethesda Naval Hospital where she supervised 230 military and civilian nurses and 315 para-nursing personnel. She was named one of America’s Most Important Women Leaders by Ladies Home Journal in 1983 and had a major role in the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Dedication in Washington, DC.
Earlier in her professional career, Rear Admiral Buckley served as secretary of the Springfield, MA chapter of the Catholic Nurses Association; secretary of the National League of Nursing in Virginia; and as a member of the American Legion. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Saint Joseph College in 1950 and a Master of Science in Nursing Management from DePaul University in Chicago, IL in 1960. She currently resides in San Diego, CA.
Rosanne Haggerty is the President and Founder of Common Ground, an international leader in developing community strategies to end homelessness. Common Ground operates a range of housing facilities, and provides services directly and as a consultant to government and not-for-profit groups. Initially serving formerly homeless and low income households located in New York City, the Hudson Valley and Connecticut, Common Ground has now expanded to Los Angeles, New Orleans and Washington, DC. Prior to founding Common Ground in 1990, Ms. Haggerty was the coordinator of housing development at Brooklyn Catholic Charities.
Ms. Haggerty is an Urban Advisor to the Urban Land Institute; a board member of the Center for Urban Community Services, the Citizen’s Housing and Planning Council, the Times Square Alliance, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and Quest Diagnostics; and is a Life Trustee of Amherst College. She was a Japan Society Public Policy Fellow, an Adelaide Thinker in Residence, a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow, and a Hunt Alternatives Fund Prime Mover. In 2007, she was elected as an Ashoka Senior Fellow and is the recipient of a 2001 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. A graduate of Amherst College, Ms. Haggerty is completing studies for a Ph.D. in Sociology at New York University. She resides in New York City.
Marilynn (Lynn) Malerba has recently been selected by the Mohegan Council of Elders to be the first female Mohegan Chief in the modern history of the Mohegan Tribe. She will be inducted as Chief at a ceremony at Fort Shantok on August 15, 2010. Ms. Malerba has been connected with the Mohegan Tribe through a long history of active family involvement. Her mother, Loretta Fielding Roberge, is granddaughter of the great Mohegan Chief Matahga (1862 – 1952), and has worked tirelessly on the Tribe’s behalf in the decades leading up to its final federal recognition in 1994.
Following her childhood ambition for a career in Nursing, Ms. Malerba first attended Hartford Hospital School of Nursing and then Saint Joseph College where she earned her Bachelor of Science in 1983. After a brief time as an RN at Hartford Hospital, she returned to the Mohegan area, working as a nurse and nurse manager at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London. She later became Director of Cardiology and Pulmonary Services there, and currently serves on L & M’s Board of Directors.
In 1997, Ms. Malerba brought her skills back to the Mohegan Tribe, eventually becoming Executive Director of the Tribe’s Health and Human Services department. In 2005, she was inducted to the Mohegan Tribal Council and selected by her fellow councilors to take the position of Vice Chairwoman; in 2009 she became Chairwoman. During this time, Ms. Malerba earned her master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Connecticut. A resident of Uncasville with her husband Paul, the couple have two adult daughters, Elizabeth and Angela.
