FAIRFIELD, Conn., May 19, 2003--1,417 undergraduate and graduate students received degrees this past weekend in the Thirty-Seventh Annual Commencement at Sacred Heart University. In graduation ceremonies held on Saturday and Sunday, distinguished leaders in education, business, medicine and philanthropy were also awarded honorary degrees from the University.

At Saturday's graduate ceremony, Theodore S. Sergi, Ph.D., Commissioner of Education of the State of Connecticut, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Dr. Sergi delivered the commencement address to the graduate degree recipients, their families and friends. A total of 551 graduate degrees were awarded.

Sunday, undergraduate students heard a stimulating and challenging address delivered by Richard E. Lapchick, Ph.D., noted author and Director of the Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Lapchick, also the founder and director emeritus of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. A well-known human rights advocate, his commencement address focused on the need to reach out and teach children to love each other, irrespective of color, in order to reduce the cycle of violence in schools and on the street.

Speaking directly to the graduates, he said: “We need you all to help save the lives of our children, to help build bridges across the racial divide in our nation. We need you to reach out to our children.”

Other honorary degree recipients, each of whom received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree, included: Bernard B. Beal, C.E.O. of M.R. Beal & Co., one of the nation's largest minority-owned companies specializing in government bonds and securities; Arnold P. Gold, M.D., Professor of Clinical Neurology and of Clinical Pediatrics at Columbia University; Dr. Sandra O. Gold, president of the Florence Heller Research Center of the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America; and Hubert J. Schlafly, Jr., television pioneer, Emmy award winner and inventor of the TelePrompTer.

Michael Pascuma, Sr., the oldest living floor broker in the U.S., was awarded the Sacred Heart University President's Medal at Sunday's ceremony. His grandson, Michael C. Pascuma, a member of the graduating class of 2003, accepted the medal.

809 undergraduates earned Baccalaureate Degrees. 57 Associate Degrees also were awarded.

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