Many stars came to the fore this past Friday as nearly 1,000 graduates received their degrees at Purchase College–SUNY's 41st annual commencement ceremony held at the Westchester County Center in White Plains.
Among those saluting the graduates at the ceremony were U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and Purchase College President Thomas J. Schwarz, with Senator Schumer telling the graduates “just go for it!”
Three Purchase College honored at the commencement were recipients of the prestigious 2013 State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Academic Excellence: Christina Blankenship of Excelsior, MN; Canton, OH-native Michael Clark, who currently lives in Port Chester, NY; and Amy Crehore of New York, NY. The three Purchase students join a select group of 250 SUNY seniors, selected from a pool of more than 460,000 students in the system.
Another distinguished Purchase graduate was Miller Lulow, who earned accolades for his talent and skill as a music major, as well as top pitcher for the Purchase College baseball team that reached the Skyline Conference championships. With a regular season record of 6-0 and an ERA of 1.21, the New York City native was named the Skyline Conference Pitcher of the Year.
Harrison resident Stephen Ferri, also took the stage Friday. A Theatre Design Technology major, Ferri was named in Westchester Magazine as “One of 22 People to Watch” in 2012, based on the fact at his young age he had already founded two of his own theater companies.
Friday's commencement ceremony also featured prominent guests such as Eric Foner, a critically acclaimed U.S. historians, who received an honorary degree and served as the commencement speaker. Foner is the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University and a specialist in the Civil War and Reconstruction. His textbook, Give Me Liberty: An American History, is among the most widely used history texts in the nation’s schools and colleges.
Two Purchase College distinguished alumni were also honored during the ceremony: Jessica Hentoff ‘77 and Gregory Crewdson ‘85. Hentoff is Artistic/Executive Director of Circus Day Foundation/Circus Harmony, a non-profit organization that uses circus arts to motivate social change and connect communities. Gregory Crewdson studied photography at Purchase College and went on to reach the apex of his art form, with his work shown in major museum collections and galleries worldwide. He is known for creating elaborately staged and lit photographs that depict dramatic, surreal events in small town America. His work is included in many public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Los Angeles County Museum.
About Purchase College–SUNY
Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspirations for Purchase were to combine on one campus conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences. Today, Purchase College–SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu ###
