MCLA Sets 2009 Convocation03:51PM / Wednesday, September 02, 2009
 | | Cynthia Normandin, class of 1976, is the MCLA 2009 convocation speaker. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts celebrates the beginning of the academic year with the annual convocation ceremony Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 4 p.m. in the Church Street Center.
MCLA President Mary K. Grant expects to welcome 360 first-year students and 175 transfer students.
Faculty, staff, administrators, and college trustees in full academic regalia will join students in a traditional processional and recessional through the campus’ symbolic gates on Church Street.
Students pass through the gates only twice in their academic careers at MCLA, once at Convocation and again at Commencement.
Tuesday’s ceremony instills in students the value of their education and the significance of being part of a community of learners.
The event is open to the public.
Cynthia Normandin, an alumna and transportation and logistics executive from Hopedale, is the keynote speaker.
She graduated from what was then North Adams State College in 1976 with a bachelor's degree in education and mathematics.
From 1976 to 1985, she worked as a mathematics teacher for Millis Public Schools. She left education in 1985 to lead the sales, marketing and accounting departments at Braun's Express in Hopedale.
Her husband, David, started at Braun's in 1978 and purchased the company in 1982. Braun's Express has more than 175 employees and five terminals with hundreds of trucks and trailers. Braun's provides delivery services throughout New England and the East Coast, specializing in carpet and flooring transportation.
Today, Normandin is vice president of Braun's Express and the president and owner of Normandin Transportation Services, a logistics company serving the Northeast.
The business offers a variety of logistics services and specializes in dry van truckload shipments.
Also speaking at convocation are MCLA trustees Chairwoman Jane B. Allen, a 1961 graduate, and Student Government Association President and college senior Jameek Clovie. The faculty marshal is Christine Condaris of the Fine and Performing Arts Department.
For more information on convocation contact the Office of Academic Affairs, 413-662-5242. |
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