Providence, RI - Charles M. Sennott, an award-winning Boston Globe correspondent who recently returned from assignment as an independent journalist in Iraq, will present the keynote address at Providence College's 85th Commencement Exercises on Sunday, May 18, 2003. An estimated 1,334 undergraduate and graduate students will receive their degrees at the ceremony which begins at 11 a.m. in the Dunkin' Donuts Center in downtown Providence.

This year's commencement features the awarding of diplomas to the first class of 14 graduates in the Providence Alliance for Catholic Teachers (PACT) program at Providence College. The two-year, postgraduate, service-teaching program was unveiled in January 2001. Developed in a partnership with the University of Notre Dame, PACT offers college graduates the chance to earn teaching certification credentials and master's degrees while teaching at rural and inner-city Catholic schools in three New England dioceses, including Providence.

Sennott is widely recognized for his expertise in covering the Middle East, having served as the Middle East bureau chief in Jerusalem for four years. He has reported extensively on the Persian Gulf War and the operations of al-Qaida, and was among the first Western reporters to arrive in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Sennott traveled and camped out with the Northern Alliance and was present when allied bombing began on October 7, 2001.

Sennott is one of four distinguished individuals who will be awarded honorary degrees. The other recipients are:

*William D. Slattery, Jr., president of the William D. Slattery Real Estate Agency in Pawtucket, R.I.;
*Dr. Donna Geffner, director of The Speech and Hearing Center and graduate programs in speech-language pathology and audiology at St. John's University in Jamaica, N.Y.; and 
* Sister Ann Sakac, O.P., president of Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y.

Currently the Globe's London bureau chief, Sennott earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and attained a master's degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism. His highly acclaimed book, "The Body and the Blood: The Holy Land's Christians at the Turn of the New Millennium," is based on his "journalistic pilgrimage," taken from December 1999 to Easter 2001 along the path of Jesus' life. Sennott found the issues resonating today in Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem and other biblical towns are similar to those of 2,000 years ago: economic injustice, military occupation, religious extremism, apocalyptic prophecies and the quest to control Jerusalem.

Other honorary degree recipients

William D. Slattery, Jr., a 1953 graduate of Providence College, has been involved in Rhode Island's real estate profession for 50 years and is known for his contributions to numerous professional, religious, and College causes. A longtime member of the College's President's Council, he is a former president of the Real Estate Listing Association and a former state director and president of the National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers.

A longtime supporter of the Catholic Charity Fund of the Diocese of Providence, he served as its general chairman in 1988. He also served as a member of the fund appeal's executive committee and as the chair of the appeal's special gifts committee for the Blackstone Valley. He received the Msgr. Thomas J. McKitchen Memorial Award for Distinguished and Meritorious Service from the diocese for his dedication to the appeal. He also received the Papal Knight of St. Gregory from Pope John Paul II.

Slattery has had a close, longtime association with his alma mater. He began volunteering for the College's Annual Fund during the 1976-77 year and was the first alumnus to serve as chair of every level of the fund. As chair of the Annual Fund in 1985-86, he led a drive that resulted in a record total of more than $4 million. The recipient of the Providence College Alumni Association's Faithful Friar Award in 1988 and the Mal Brown Award in 1993, Slattery has been an active volunteer and has served on the National Alumni Association as well as on the College's Building and Grounds Committee.  

Dr. Donna Geffner has devoted her professional life-nearly 35 years-to the field of speech-language pathology and audiology. She is a national authority who has published more than 50 articles and book chapters, presented more than 250 papers, and is a frequent contributor to television and radio programs.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., native graduated from Brooklyn College in 1967 and earned her master's degree in speech pathology in 1968 and a doctoral degree in speech pathology and audiology in 1970-both from New York University. She joined the faculty of St. John's University in 1970 as an instructor and has remained there since, being named professor of speech communication in 1982.

Among her achievements at St. John's, Geffner founded The Speech and Hearing Center in 1976 and continues to serve as its director. The facility is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of speech, language, and hearing disorders in children and adults. She also founded the undergraduate program in speech and hearing in 1976 and, in 1985, established the master's degree program in speech-language pathology and audiology.

She has been the director of graduate programs in speech-language pathology and audiology since 1992, established the master's-level State Teacher Certification Program in Speech and Language, and recently spearheaded the development of a doctor of audiology degree in partnership with two other universities.

Sister Ann Sakac, O.P., a member of the Newburgh, N.Y., Dominican Sisters, has served Mount St. Mary College in academic and administrative capacities since 1969, when she was named professor of English at the liberal arts and sciences college. Prior to being named the college's fourth president in 1977, Sister Sakac served as director of residence life/assistant dean of students, acting registrar, chair of the Division of Arts and Letters, and as acting president.

During her presidency, enrollment at Mount St. Mary has increased from 877 to approximately 2,500 men and women today; undergraduate programs have been added in accounting, business management and administration, communication arts, and computer science; and graduate programs have been established in business, education, and nursing.
A Wallington, N.J., native, Sister Sakac graduated in 1958 from Villanova University. She attained a master's degree in English and a doctorate in higher education/English from The Catholic University of America in 1964 and 1969, respectively.

Sister Sakac is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Commission of Independent Colleges and Universities of the State of New York and serves on the City of Newburgh Economic Advisory Committee.

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