ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT OF MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY WEST LONG BRANCH, NEW JERSEY TUESDAY, MAY TWENTIETH, TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT Monmouth University was founded in 1933 as the Central Jersey Shore’s first center of higher education. Its beginning was attended by an outpouring of support from the state’s educational community and great expectations of good. Now in the year 2008, as Monmouth University celebrates its Diamond Jubilee and looks back proudly on 75 years of excellence in higher education, the future is bright, indeed. Today, well launched into its second half century, Monmouth has fulfilled its early expectations. From a two-year junior college conducting classes in borrowed quarters, Monmouth grew to achieve university status in 1995. The University’s 156-acre campus in suburban West Long Branch connects Monmouth with New Jersey’s historic past. Woodrow Wilson Hall, the University’s administrative center, is a National Historic Landmark, and the Guggenheim building, a wing of the Monmouth University Library, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Monmouth University serves an enrollment of more than 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students—a richly diverse group that comes from a number of states other than New Jersey and from 30 foreign nations. The student body includes traditional-age students, young professionals pursuing advanced studies, and mature men and women resuming studies in preparation for a career change or for personal enrichment. Within Monmouth’s six schools—the School of Business Administration, the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Education, the School of Science, Technology, and Engineering, the Marjorie K. Unterberg School of Nursing and Health Studies, and the Graduate School—students have a choice of 49 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. At Monmouth, students participate in more than 65 extracurricular organizations and special interest activities, in addition to an NCAA Division I Athletics program, which fields 19 men’s and women’s teams. BOARD OF TRUSTEES Alfred J. Schiavetti, Jr., Chairman Robert B. Sculthorpe ’63, Vice Chairman John R. Garbarino, Treasurer Deborah B. Larrison ’94, Secretary Jerome P. Amedeo ’90 Paul G. Gaffney II Tavit O. Najarian Rudolph J. Borneo ’64 Michael Gooch Michael A. Plodwick ’82 Peter Bruckmann ’70 Jan Greenwood Thomas A. Porskievies ’82, ’86 Rosa Chaviano-Moran Marianne Hesse Steven J. Pozycki ’73 Marcia Sue Clever Kenneth W. Hitchner, III William B. Roberts Paul W. Corliss Harold L. Hodes ’65 Robert B. Rumsby ’77 Alan E. Davis John H. Kessler ’69 M. Monica Sweeney William P. Dioguardi, Jr. ’80 Robert E. McAllan ’69 Ann Unterberg Marti S. Egger ’81 Thomas J. Michelli Alfred L. Ferguson H. William Mullaney LIFE TRUSTEES Paul S. Doherty, Jr. ’67 Thomas P. Kiely Charles T. Parton W. Cary Edwards Stephen M. Parks ’68 Richard S. Sambol Judith Ann Eisenberg LIFE TRUSTEES EMERITUS Jules L. Plangere, Jr. STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION OFFICERS Brandon Bosqué, President Kevin Ligouri, Vice President Aaron Griswold, Chair, Finance Committee Beckie Turner, Chair, Academic Committee Lauren Acquaviva, Chair, Student Affairs Committee CLASS OF 2008 OFFICERS Maria Mereos, President Alex Abragamov, Vice President Diane Giandolfo, Treasurer Kelly McCullough, Secretary FACULTY MARSHALLS STUDENT MARSHALLS Derek A. Barnes, Prescott Evarts Jeffery Cook, Amanda Klaus 2 ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT OF MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY May 20, 2008 One thirty p.m. Paul G. Gaffney II, President of Monmouth University, Presiding ACADEMIC PROCESSION...........................................Pomp and Circumstance, Sir Edward Elgar NATIONAL ANTHEM...............................................The Monmouth University Chamber Choir INVOCATION ..............................................................................The Reverend Stephen E. Beard Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Red Bank GREETINGS.................................................................................................Alfred J. Schiavetti, Jr. Chairman, Monmouth University Board of Trustees CONFERRAL OF HONORARY DEGREES......................................................President Gaffney COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER ................................................................................Robert Klein SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS ...............................................................................President Gaffney CLASS OF 2008 REMARKS......................................................................................Maria Mereos President, Class of 2008 CONFERRAL OF DEGREES IN COURSE ALMA MATER ............................................................The Monmouth University Chamber Choir BENEDICTION......................................................................................................Reverend Beard RECESSIONAL............................................................................Trumpet Voluntary, Henry Purcell All Commencement participants and guests are requested to remain in their seats until the conclusion of the ceremony and the faculty and platform party process out. You are to please refrain from the use of cellphones and other electronic devices during the ceremony. 3 HONORARY DEGREES ROBERT KLEIN Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa Presented by Trustee Alfred L. Ferguson A self-described amorous busboy and child of the 1950s, award-winning comedian and actor Robert Klein is a pioneer of observational humor. His razor-sharp routines helped define what we know today as stand-up comedy. And, Klein continues to have an acclaimed career in comedy on Broadway, on television, and in film. In his memoir, The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue, he unravels an affectionate tale of growing up before embarking on a show business career. With wry wit and frank honesty, Klein recounts the journey from his parents’ small Bronx apartment, to developing his comedic talent in Chicago with the famed Second City troupe, as well as the beginning of his show business stardom. According to Klein, while writing the book, he was surprised at how unsure he was of himself when he was younger—how afraid he was of risk and rejection, how intensely he felt things, both large and small. Klein claims this intensity is one of the mixed blessings of youth. “Mellowing, it seems, is one of the meager compensatory blessing of being old,” he said. Fortunately for his audiences, Klein was not a mellow young man. It is difficult to overestimate how fresh and unexpected Klein’s comedy was when he first appeared on television. Brash, intelligent, and edgy without being confrontational, Klein provided a role model for a generation of comedians that followed him including: Richard Belzer, Billy Crystal, Richard Lewis, and Jerry Seinfeld. Klein’s first album, Child of the 50’s, became a handbook of sorts for the comedically inclined who were following in his footsteps. Robert Klein attended one year of graduate school at the Yale School of Drama (1962–1963), but left because he thought he could make it as an actor in theater in New York City. That did not happen quite so quickly, but he then successfully auditioned for Second City and spent fourteen crucial months learning and performing in Chicago, before returning to New York and a role in Mike Nichol’s musical, The Apple Tree. After the curtain fell on Broadway each night, Klein would rush to the Improvisation, the pioneering comedy club on West 44th Street, where he would absorb the master class in comedy being conducted there by Rodney Dangerfield. Dangerfield saw potential in the young Klein and took the eager would-be comic under his wing, helping to find him management and to launch his career with a Tonight Show appearance in 1968. By 1975, when the first of Klein’s many HBO concerts aired, Robert Klein was a comic king. He appeared on variety and talk shows, found acclaim as an actor, and recorded many comedy albums. Klein’s first HBO appearance was also a first for HBO: its first live comedy concert, which set new benchmarks for audacity and language, demonstrating that the sparks that are struck during live performance can be felt through the medium of television. Robert Klein was nominated twice for Grammy Awards for best comedy album of the year for his albums Child of the 50’s and Mind Over Matter. He received a Tony Award nomination for best actor and won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his performance in the hit Neil Simon musical, They’re Playing Our Song. In 1993, Klein won an Obie and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in Wendy Wasserstein’s, The Sisters Rosensweig. Klein has had many starring roles in television. He co-starred in the hit NBC series, Sisters, and regularly appears on talk-shows, making more than 100 appearances on The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman. Robert Klein has also appeared in many notable films including, Hooper, The Owl and the Pussycat, Primary Colors, People I Know, Two Weeks Notice, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science in 1962 from Alfred University and also received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Alfred University in 1979. According to Jerry Seinfeld, “Robert Klein has always been the funniest, most intelligent, coolest comedian. If he would also like to be known as an amorous busboy, who am I to stand in his way?” 4 JUDITH K. BRODSKY Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa Presented by Trustee Rosa Chaviano-Moran As a working artist and