May 5, 2003
USM Alumnus, Tony Shalhoub, To Speak at 123rd Commencement
Golden Globe Award-winner Tony Shalhoub, star of the USA
Network television series "Monk," will be the speaker at the
University of Southern Maine's 123rd commencement ceremony,
to be held at 9 a.m. this Saturday, May 10, in the Cumberland
County Civic Center, Portland.
Shalhoub, a 1977 USM graduate, will receive a Distinguished
Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to the
arts. A native of Green Bay, Wisc., Shalhoub first studied
acting at USM. In 1977, he was accepted into the Yale School
of Drama where he earned his M.F.A. degree. After Yale, he
spent four seasons at the American Repertory Theater, in Cambridge,
Mass., before moving to New York City, where he soon landed
a role on Broadway. Shalhoub earned a Tony Award nomination
in 1992 for his performance in "Conversations with My Father,"
and later that year landed his television role on "Wings"
as the Italian cab driver, Antonio Scarpacci.
Congressman Tom Allen will also be receiving a Distinguished
Achievement Award for his unending commitment to civil rights,
social and political equity, and public service. He was class
president at Bowdoin, and drew statewide attention when he
resigned from a national fraternity because of what he viewed
as its "unwritten racial membership restriction." After graduate
studies in political science at Oxford University, he graduated
from Harvard Law School in 1974 and practiced law in Portland.
He was elected to Portland City Council in 1989, and from
there became Portland mayor, where he worked to pass Maine's
first anti-discriminiation ordinance protecting gays and lesbians.
He won his Democratic congressional seat in 1996 and has held
that seat for four terms, serving as the Democratic Whip at
Large.
A third Distinguished Achievement Award will be presented
this year to Timothy Wilson, who moved to Maine in the 1960s
after serving in the Peace Corps. After a 20-year career as
a high school language arts and history teacher. Wilson took
the helm of the Seeds of Peace Camp in 1993, its founding
year, with the single goal of helping teenagers from war-torn
areas around the world to come together in peace. For his
leadership at Seeds of Peace Camp, he received the Medal of
Honor in 1997 from the late King Hussein of Jordan. In 2000
he helped to create The Portland Project, designed to address
ethnic and racial tensions arising among refugee and American
populations in Maine.
USM's student commencement speaker is Daryl Douglas Morazzini,
a native of Roselle Park, N.J., who is graduating with a double
major in philosophy and history, and a minor in creative writing.
He was been accepted to Yale University, where he will be
working toward a master's degree in philosophy of religion.
Morazzini is a presidential scholar whose activities at USM
ranged from serving on the Student Senate, to being president
of the Board of Student Organizations.
Also to be honored during Commencement with emerti status
are retirees John W. Bay, of Portland, dean and associate
professor of economics emeritus; Dave D. Davis, currently
of New Orleans, La., professor of anthropology emeritus; and
Susan W. Vines, currently of Homosassa, Fla., associate dean
for research and associate professor of nursing emerita.
Graduation is decidedly a family affair at USM this year.
The mother-daughter duo of Jan and Verity Herliekson are graduating
with honors from the Geography-Anthropology department. Verity,
18, who was home-schooled by her mother, began the Early Study
at USM program when she was 13. Her sister, Rhianna, 19, also
was home-schooled and entered USM at 14. She graduates next
year from the School of Music.
When Aimee Tanguay, of North Waterboro, graduates with her
husband, Adam Tanguay, it will mark the third generation of
her family to graduate from USM. AimeeÍs mother, Lynn Caroll,
graduated from USM in 1982; her grandparents, Eleanor Berry
Pickett and Francis Pickett, graduated in 1953 and 1951, respectively.
Eleanor Pickett will march this Saturday as part of this yearÍs
Golden Grads.
Joline Wilson, of Port Clyde, and her son, Loukas, 23, both
will be marching this year. Joline, a therapeutic recreation
major, set up temporary digs in Portland during her three-year
course of study at USM, traveling to Port Clyde on weekends
to be with her husband. USM was the only institution offering
her desired course of study, she says, and her experiences
at USM and Portland "broadened my scope, gave me knowledge,
and rejuvenated me."
For more information on USM's Commencement, please call 780-5106
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