The longest-serving ambassador of Ireland to the United States in the modern era, H.E. Michael Collins, will deliver the Spring Commencement address and be presented with an honorary doctor of laws degree on Friday, May 8, at 5 p.m. in the A.J. Palumbo Center.
H.E. Michael Collins
In addition, the University will confer an honorary doctor of humane letters on both Dr. Sonia Nieto, professor emerita of language, literacy and culture at the University of Massachusetts’ School of Education, and Dr. Pedro Noguera, the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University, at the graduation ceremony.
Collins, currently Ireland’s ambassador to Germany, served as Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2013. His work in the United States focused on supporting the Irish community as well as business and economic development. Collins also extensively addressed contemporary Ireland, Europe and the Northern Ireland peace process.
Dr. Sonia Nieto
The Los Angeles World Affairs Council named Collins Diplomat of the Year in 2008, and he received the American Ireland Fund’s Public Service Award in 2013 for his contribution to relations between the U.S. and Ireland.
Nieto, who has taught students from elementary to graduate school levels, is a popular speaker and author on topics including multicultural education, teacher preparation, and the education of Latinos and other culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. Her book Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education is widely used in teacher preparation and in-service courses. Nieto’s work has also been published in The Harvard Education Review, Education Leadership and the Journal of Educational Change.
Dr. Pedro Noguera
Noguera is a sociologist whose scholarship and research focus on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions, as well as by demographic trends in local, regional and global contexts. He has published extensively about urban school reform, conditions that promote student achievement, youth violence, and race and ethnic relations in American society, among others. Noguera, whose most recent book is Excellence Through Equity, has received numerous awards for his work, including the 2015 National Association of Secondary School Principals for Distinguished Service to Public Education.