In Commendation of Brother Peter Bray, FSC, Ed.D

The Academic Senate Saint Mary’s College of California

In Commendation of Brother Peter Bray, FSC, Ed.D. Vice Chancellor “President”, Bethlehem University, Palestine

on behalf of the Faculty, Students, and Administration of Saint Mary’s College of California, in Convocation assembled, the 26th day of April, 2017.

Mindful that Brother Peter’s original and enduring vocation to education in the light of faith, under the charism of the Founder, a vocation pursued in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and in Palestine, in secondary and university classrooms, and cultivated through baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral studies at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, Massey University in Palmerston North, and the University of San Diego, California; and

Mindful of Brother Peter’s extensive dedication to Lasallian education which extends over forty years, as a teacher, at De La Salle College in Ashfield in Sydney, at Francis Douglas Memorial College in New Plymouth, New Zealand where he had attended school and at the Lasallian Leadership Institute in the United States, as a consultant in Leadership for Secondary Schools at the Benilde Catholic High School in Bankstown in Sydney, where he worked with governing boards and principals of secondary schools, and where he was responsible for beginning the Master of Educational Leadership program in an arrangement with the Australian Catholic University, and as consultant and teacher in leadership studies in a number of countries including New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Ireland, the Philippines, England, Palestine, Qatar and Turkey, and as an administrator, where he was appointed principal at De La Salle College in Mangere East in Auckland for 3 years, at Francis Douglas Memorial College for 12 years, and at Benilde Catholic High School in Bankstown in Sydney for 3 years, and as director at the Wellington Catholic Education Centre for 11 years, , and as Vice Chancellor “President” at Bethlehem University, Palestine where he has been serving since February, 2009; and

Mindful of Brother Peter’s prominence in the Catholic principals’ associations in New Zealand, as chairman of the regional and national associations for the last ten years he was at Francis Douglas Memorial College, and of the influence he had on the developments that occurred as changes were made in the national school system, and of his role in starting the Lasallian Centre in Narooma, which was a resource center for teachers in Lasallian schools throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia; and

Mindful of the immense benefits that Brother Peter contributes to Lasallian life wherever he serves, but particularly at Bethlehem University as a Palestinian institution of higher education under Israeli military occupation, where the nature of challenges are vastly different from all other comparable Lasallian institutions, and where Brother Peter has devoted himself to turn Bethlehem University into an oasis of peace and hope for young people, and as an exemplary institution which champions social justice: and

Grateful for Brother Peter’s gifts of service to so many Lasallian communities all over the world—and, indeed, to all Lasallians—but grateful especially for the gift of his example of service in the troubled Holy Land,

We, the Members of the Academic Senate of Saint Mary’s College, on behalf of this Lasallian community of learning, commend Brother Peter Bray, FSC, Ed.D.; and, through the intercession of his brother and preceptor, Saint John Baptist de la Salle, we invoke the sustaining Grace of Almighty God upon his present work as Vice Chancellor of Bethlehem University and upon his every future endeavor.

Given at Saint Mary’s College of California on this, the 26th day of April, in the year of Our Lord, 2017.

Mindy Thomas Anna Navokov Hisham Ahmed Senator and Chair Senator and Vice-Chair Senator and Past-Chair

Martin Rokeach Helga Lénárt-Cheng Lisa Manter Senator Senator Senator

Tomas Gomez-Arias Peter Alter Hiroko Nakano Senator Senator Senator

Berna Aksu Kristen Beck Senator Parliamentarian