MCLA Commencement to Feature Musician, Author McBride
 |
Graduation will be held Sunday, May 16, at 11 a.m. in the Amsler Campus Center gymnasium.
McBride will receive an honorary doctoral degree from the college along with local educator and 9/11 foundation founder Sarah "Sally" Goodrich and alumnus Brian K. Fitzgerald, executive director of the Business-Higher Education Forum. In recognition of their awards, the honorary degree recipients will have books placed in MCLA's Freel Library in their names.
In addition, President Mary K. Grant will award the President's Medal for Distinguished Service to Vice President of Academic Affairs Steven Green for his many years of service to the college and the community. Green will retire this summer after 36 years at the college.
The first medal was presented at the 2007 commencement ceremony to Attorney General Martha Coakley. Grant
inaugurated the award to recognize individuals who embody the spirit of service to the community.
"I am delighted that MCLA will recognize these remarkable individuals," Grant said. "Each has made important and significant contributions to the lives of others. Their work — be it James McBride's music and writing, Sally Goodrich's humanitarian projects in Afghanistan, Brian Fitzgerald's leadership and advocacy in the area of federal student aid programs or Steve Green's leadership and tireless efforts on behalf of the college and community — is uniquely inspiring to others. I look forward to honoring each of them for their achievements and for the difference they have made."
McBride's landmark memoir "The Color of Water" is considered an American classic and is read in schools and universities across the United States. More than two million copies of the book have sold worldwide. In 2008, his debut novel, "Miracle at St. Anna," was translated into a major motion picture, which was directed by American film icon Spike Lee.
His latest novel, "Song Yet Sung," was released in paperback in January 2009.
McBride is a former staff writer for The Boston Globe, People Magazine and The Washington Post. His work also has appeared in Essence, Rolling Stone and The New York Times. His April 2007 National Geographic story, "Hip Hop Planet," is a respected treatise on African-American music and culture.
McBride also is a saxophonist and former sideman for jazz legend Jimmy Scott, among others. He has written songs for Anita Baker, Grover Washington Jr., Gary Burton, and even for the PBS television character "Barney." He received the Stephen Sondheim Award and the Richard Rodgers Foundation Horizon Award for his musical "Bo-Bos," co-written with playwright Ed Shockley. His "Riffin' and Pontificatin'" tour was captured in a 2003 Comcast Television documentary. He has been featured on national radio and television programs in America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The native New Yorker studied composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and received his master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York at age 22. He is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.
Sally Goodrich
 Sarah 'Sally' Goodrich
|
She established the foundation in memory of her son, Peter, who was on United Airlines Flight 175 when it was hijacked and flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Her work has included the building of a school for 520 girls in Logar Province and the construction of a water well and reservoir in Kunar Province. The foundation continues to support that school, provides ongoing funding to two schools and 50 orphans in Wardak Province, and supports some portion of the high school and college education of 12 Afghan exchange students in the United States.
In January 2007, she and her husband, Don, received the Martin Luther King Jr. Peacemaker Award from the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. Sally Goodrich was the 2006 recipient of the North Berkshire Business and Professional Women's Woman of Achievement Award and has been featured on NPR, in The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, in O Magazine and as ABC News' "Person of the Week."
Goodrich is a founding and advisory board member of Our Voices Together, a non-profit network founded in 2005 by 9/11 families and friends to promote people-to-people efforts to help build better, safer lives and futures around the world.
A 1967 graduate of the University of Vermont, Goodrich holds a master's degree in education from Boston University and an educational specialist degree in language and literacy from Simmons College.
Brian K. Fitzgerald
 Brian K. Fitzgerald
|
As director of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance from 1988 to 2004, he conducted and managed federally mandated studies and evaluations of the federal student aid programs, reporting and testifying before Congresse. Under his leadership, the committee played a major role in persuading Congress and the Education Department to take steps to simplify and modernize the way that students apply for and receive federal aid.
Fitzgerald also was an adjunct associate professor of government at American University.
He earned his master's and doctoral degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he served as a chairman of the alumni council. At MCLA, he was student representative on the Massachusetts State College Board of Trustees, vice president of student government and a student negotiator for faculty collective bargaining. MCLA named him Distinguished Alumnus in 2000.
Steve Green
 Steve Green
|
He is the recipient of many awards, including the Massachusetts Performance Recognition Program, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Citation for Outstanding Performance, the "Yes Yes, North Adams Can" award for service and contributions to the community, the Faculty Distinguished Service Award and a City University of New York Graduate Teaching Fellowship. In 2006, the New England Sociological Association named Green their Sociologist of the Year and a year later, he received the Francis H. Hayden from the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce for his contribution to the economic, social, and cultural improvement of Northern Berkshire County.
At MCLA, Green has been department chair, acting vice president for academic affairs and associate dean. He has held the position of vice president for academic affairs since 2004.
Green received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from City College of the City University of New York and his doctorate in sociology from the Graduate School of the City of University of New York.
MCLA board of trustees Chairman Richard Lamb applauded those who will be honored.
"James McBride is a classic Renaissance man and a multitalented American original," he said. "Sally Goodrich is a true humanitarian who found a way to turn the worst of tragedies into a powerful force for good. And Brian Fitzgerald has brought great credit to MCLA as a distinguished educator, an accomplished administrator and an acknowledged policy expert."
Lamb added, "Steve Green stands for all that is best about MCLA and our community. He is a gem of an educator and a prince of a man,"
For more information, go to www.mcla.edu/Commencement.
