• Individuals representing the fields of broadcast journalism, religion, higher education, and foreign policy and service will be honored with keynote speaker, Tom Brokaw.
• Honorary degrees will be awarded during the College’s 87^th Commencement exercises on Sunday, May 15, 2005.

Providence, RI -- Providence College will honor four distinguished individuals representing the fields of broadcast journalism, religion, higher education, and foreign policy and service with honorary degrees at the College’s Eighty-Seventh Commencement Exercises on Sunday, May 15, at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Downtown Providence. Tom Brokaw, former anchor of NBC Nightly News, previously was announced as the Commencement speaker; he also will be the recipient of an honorary degree.

The honorary degree recipients are:

• Doris A. (Sable) Burke, television analyst and game reporter for ESPN and the Madison Square Garden Network
• Very Rev. D. Dominic Izzo, O.P., prior provincial of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph and chair of the Corporation of Providence College
• Dr. Ruth J. Simmons,   president of Brown University in Providence, RI  
• Ambassador Robert E. White,  president of the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C.

Doris A. (Sable) Burke

As a television analyst and game reporter for ESPN and the Madison Square Garden Network, Burke has covered basketball games at both the collegiate and professional levels. She joined ESPN as a color analyst in 1991, covering primarily women’s collegiate basketball tournaments. She has worked as both an analyst and sideline reporter, covering men’s and women’s NCAA games and tournaments, as well as WNBA and NBA contests.

A former Providence College Friars’ basketball star and an assistant coach of the women’s basketball team from 1988-1990, Burke also is a regular columnist for Eastern Basketball Magazine and a contributing writer for the Center for Sports Parenting Web site.

Among the honors she has received, Burke was inducted into the Institute for International Sport’s Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame in 2004 and was named one of 15 Sports Ethics Fellows by the Institute for International Sport in 2002. She was inducted into the Providence College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000 and was PC’s Female Athlete of the Year in 1987.

Burke received a bachelor’s degree in health services/social work in 1987 and her master’s degree in education counseling in 1992, both from Providence College.

Very Rev. D. Dominic Izzo, O.P.

Father Izzo has served as the prior provincial of the Province of St. Joseph, based in New York City, since his election to a four-year term in June 2002. As prior provincial, he is the major superior and the proper ordinary of the Dominican brethren in the province, which comprises the New England states, the Middle Atlantic states, Kentucky, and  Ohio.  The province also oversees international missions in Chile, Lebanon, Pakistan, Peru, the Solomon Islands, and Eastern Africa.

Prior to his election as prior provincial, Father Izzo served the Vicariate in Eastern Africa for seven years, beginning a year after his ordination in 1994.

From 2000 to 2002, he was the vicariate’s vicar provincial, or superior. The vicariate covers an extensive geographic area that is comprised of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and south Sudan.

A Rhode Island native, Father Izzo earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from PC in 1988 and entered the Dominican novitiate that same year. He received a master’s degree in theology in 1993 and his licentiate in sacred Scripture in 1995, both from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington , D.C. He was ordained at St. Dominic Church in Washington on May 20, 1994.

A member of the National Board of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) since 1993, Father Izzo was elected president of the CMSM by major superiors within the conference last August. He will begin his two-year term as president this August. The CMSM is an association of more than 20,000 priests and brothers representing 210 Catholic communities in the United States.

Dr. Ruth J. Simmons

Named Brown University’s president in 2001, Dr. Ruth J. Simmons’ entire professional career has been devoted to higher education. She has served a total of nine universities and colleges, including the University of New Orleans, Spelman College, and Princeton University. She was the president of Smith College from 1995-2001.

At Brown, Simmons has increased faculty ranks; established a need-blind financial aid process; and made significant investments in libraries, information technology, and academic space. She also holds the title of professor in two academic departments.

The Grapeland, Texas native graduated summa cum laude from Dillard University in 1967 and went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University in 1970 and 1973, respectively. Simmons holds honorary degrees from nearly two-dozen colleges and universities and serves on more than a dozen boards and committees, including the boards of the Carnegie Corporation, Pfizer Inc., and The Goldman Sachs Group.

Simmons has received numerous lifetime achievement and humanitarian awards, including the President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund and the 2002 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal.

Ambassador Robert E. White   

After leaving the United States Foreign Service in 1981 following 26 years of service, White has maintained a service-oriented lifestyle. He has been the president for the Center for International Policy (CIP) since 1990. The center is a non-profit research and advocacy organization that works to ensure that U.S. foreign policy is accountable. It aims to promote human rights, peace, and demilitarization around the world.

During his career with the Foreign Service, White specialized in Latin American affairs with an emphasis on Central America . Among the posts he held were Latin American director of the Peace Corps, deputy permanent representative to the Organization of American States, and ambassador of the United States to both Paraguay (1977-79) and El Salvador (1979-81).

White served as a senior associate for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 1981-83 before becoming professor of international relations at Simmons College the next two years. From 1985-90, he was president of the International Center for Development Policy.

A 1952 graduate of St. Michael’s College in Winooski, Vt., White was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in England following his graduation. He then returned to the United States and earned a master’s degree from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1954.

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