INFORMATION FOR
New Jersey Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno will give the commencement address and receive an honorary doctor of laws degree on Wednesday, May 18, 2011 as part of William Paterson University’s 188th commencement ceremony.
The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. at the Izod Center in East Rutherford. This is the first time in the University’s history that its commencement ceremony has been held off campus. The change was made to make commencement more convenient for students and their families by eliminating the need for a rain date and tickets for guests; the center also offers ample parking.
The ceremony will include speeches by a graduating bachelor’s degree and a graduating master’s degree candidate, as well as the presentation of three faculty recognition awards for teaching, scholarship, and service.
Bachelor’s and master’s degrees will be conferred upon candidates who have completed their degree requirements between August 2010 and May 2011. Alumni from the Class of 1961, who graduated when William Paterson was called Paterson State College, will be present at the morning ceremony and attend a 50th reunion luncheon sponsored by the Alumni Relations Office. The Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Chapter will host a Senior Send-Off reception on Tuesday, May 17 at 7 p.m. in the University Commons.
Guadagno was elected as New Jersey's first lieutenant governor in November 2009. As Governor Chris Christie's running mate, she was sworn into office on January 19, 2010. In addition to serving as lieutenant governor, Guadagno serves as New Jersey’s thirty-third secretary of state. A lawyer for nearly three decades, Guadagno began her career in public service as a federal prosecutor with the Organized Crime and Racketeering Strike Force in Brooklyn, New York, before becoming an assistant United States Attorney in Newark. As a federal prosecutor in New Jersey, she was awarded the nation's highest honor for her prosecutions of two separate corrupt public officials in New Jersey. After her federal service, Guadagno served as a ranking member of the State of New Jersey Attorney General's Office. Following a number of years in the private sector, Guadagno was elected sheriff of Monmouth County in 2007, the first woman elected as sheriff in that county's history.
A cum laude graduate of Ursinus College, Guadagno received her juris doctorate degree, cum laude, from the American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. She has taught at the Rutgers University School of Law in Newark.
William Paterson University, one of the nine state colleges and universities in New Jersey, offers more than 250 undergraduate and graduate academic programs through five colleges: Arts and Communication, Cotsakos College of Business, Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Health. Located on 370 hilltop acres in Wayne, the university enrolls more than 11,300 students and provides housing for nearly 2,700 students. The institution’s 379 full-time faculty are highly distinguished and diverse scholars and teachers, many of whom are recipients of prestigious awards and grants from the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.
