Dear Commons Community,

It was a grand evening last night at the Graduate Center’s Commencement at Avery Fisher Hall.  President Bill Kelly and Provost Chase Robinson presided over the ceremonies for our 400 plus doctoral  and  masters degree graduates.  The main speaker was David Nasaw, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Distinguished Professor of History.   Honorary degrees were given to Lawrence Weiner,  a founding figure of conceptual art, who has had a flourishing career since the first presentation of his work in California in 1960. The Bronx-born artist, educated in the public schools of New York, is today a great exemplar of that brand of wide-ranging innovation that changes minds, challenges perceptions, and has helped to keep New York the cultural capital of the world.  And Robert Wilson,  widely acknowledged as the theatre’s leading avant-garde director and playwright, he is also a celebrated painter, sculptor, designer, and video artist, who has done trend-setting work as performer, choreographer, and sound and lighting director. He is perhaps best known for having created, with composer Philip Glass, the monumental and tradition-shattering opera Einstein on the Beach.

For me the special moment was when the fourteen Urban Education doctoral graduates came to the stage and  were hooded.  One of our graduates, Kirsten Cole, brought her young sons, Max and Zeke, down the aisle with her.

Congratulations to all!!!

Tony