Washington & Jefferson commencement set
Washington & Jefferson College will graduate nearly 300 during its commencement ceremony Saturday, and Pittsburgh native William Strickland, founder, president and chief executive officer of the internationally-renowned nonprofit Manchester Bidwell Corp., will deliver the keynote address.
Commencement will be held on the Olin Fine Arts Center lawn of the W&J campus at 10 a.m. and will be streamed live via the college’s website at http://www.washjeff.edu/live.
The feed will be active 30 minutes before the ceremony.
A baccalaureate service will be held at 6 p.m. Friday at the Church of the Covenant in Washington.
As part of the commencement ceremony, Strickland, along with retired chairman of Merck & Co. and W&J Board of Trustees Chairman Richard T. Clark, Grammy-winning organist and Washington native Paul Jacobs, and president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, Sister Carol Keehan, will receive honorary degrees from W&J.
In 1968, then-college student Strickland founded the youth arts program Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild to expose inner city youth to the arts and get them away from life on the streets.
After his success with MCG, Strickland assumed leadership of vocational education school Bidwell Training Center in 1971 and subsequently joined them, and other innovative organizations he created, under the parent company Manchester Bidwell Corp.
The MBC business model has been so successful it’s being replicated across the world.
While in office, President Barack Obama named Strickland as one of 25 members of the White House Council for Community Solutions. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Public Service from W&J.
W&J will present an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to Clark. Clark’s career with global pharmaceutical and health care company Merck & Co. spanned 39 years, during which he held various leadership positions before becoming president and CEO, and eventually chairman. Currently, Clark is the chairman of the Washington & Jefferson College Board of Trustees and the Catholic Foundation of Greater Philadelphia.
Paul Jacobs has been showcasing his musical prowess since he was a teenager. Jacobs joined the faculty at The Juilliard School in 2003 and was named head of the organ department in 2004.
He has performed across the world, and in 2011, he was the first organist ever to win a Grammy Award. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Music from W&J.
For more than 35 years, Keehan has worked in administrative governance positions at hospitals sponsored by the Daughters of Charity, becoming the ninth president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States in 2005.
As a leader in the governance of health care, insurance and educational organizations, Keehan played a central role in advancing the Affordable Care Act. She will receive an honorary Doctor of Divinity from W&J.