Hospital CEO and British Novelist to Speak at Commencement

Christopher M. Dadlez

Bernard Cornwell

Richard D. Fain

John Corigliano

Walter Wick

Malcolm Morrison

Nancy Stula '83, '85

Christopher M. Dadlez, president and chief executive officer of Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, and Bernard Cornwell, a British author of historical novels that have been adapted into popular television films, will be the keynote speakers at the University of Hartford’s Commencement weekend, May 18–19.

Dadlez will address students at the graduate Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 18, and Cornwell will address students at the undergraduate Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 19. Both events will begin at 10 a.m. on the lawn outside Gengras Student Union.

Nearly 1,100 students will receive bachelor’s and associate’s degrees at diploma presentation ceremonies at designated sites across campus following the main undergraduate Commencement ceremony on Sunday (May 19).  More than 400 students will receive master’s and doctoral degrees during the graduate Commencement ceremony on Saturday (May 18.)

More than 40 percent of the undergraduate Class of 2013 is graduating with honors: 129 cum laude, 191 magna cum laude, and 151 summa cum laude. In addition, the number of students graduating from the University Honors  Program is expected to equal or exceed last year's record-breaking total of 36. To graduate with University Honors, students must complete 18 credits of honors courses as well as a senior-year thesis or research project.


Honorary Degree and Award Recipients

Dadlez and Cornwell will be presented with honorary degrees, as will Richard D. Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.; John Corigliano, prolific composer and professor of music at Lehman College of the City University of New York; and Walter Wick, award-winning children’s book author and photographic illustrator.

Malcolm Morrison, who served as dean of the University’s Hartt School from 1998 to 2008, will be awarded the University Medal for Distinguished Service, which is presented infrequently to an individual or group who had a profound impact on the University. Nancy Stula '83, '85, director and curator of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Conn., will be presented with the Distinguished Alumni Award, which is presented annually to a University graduate who has made an exceptional impact on her/his profession, community, and the University.

Please check UNotes over the next week for articles about the faculty and students who will receive awards at Commencement.


About the Honorees

Christopher Dadlez, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, became the head of Saint Francis, New England’s largest Catholic hospital, in 2004. He has led large healthcare organizations in five states, including serving as president and CEO of Mercy Medical Center in Canton, Ohio, immediately prior to joining Saint Francis. Under his direction, Saint Francis recently launched the Center for Health Equity, an initiative dedicated to reducing healthcare disparities and enhancing cultural competencies among healthcare providers. On the national level, he holds leadership roles in the American Hospital Association, for which he serves on the Equity of Care Committee. In 2010, Saint Francis and the University of Hartford signed an affiliation agreement to launch academic partnership initiatives in healthcare, research, and education to benefit learners, researchers, practitioners, and ultimately patients and the community.

Bernard Cornwell, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters, has published 50 historical novels about the drama, perils, and triumphs of early European wars. His most popular works are 21 novels that tell the adventures of fictional British rifleman Richard Sharpe’s rise through the ranks of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. The series was adapted into a television show featuring actor Sean Bean. Cornwell has also written about the American Civil War, the Arthurian saga, and the Hundred Years War. In 2000, Queen Elizabeth dubbed Cornwell an officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature and television production.

Richard Fain, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science, has overseen the development and growth of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. for 25 years as chairman and chief executive officer of the global cruise company, which owns Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises, CDF Croisières de France, and the joint venture, TUI Cruises. Together, these six brands operate 41 ships around the world, comprise more than 60,000 shipboard and shoreside employees, and serve more than 5 million guests annually. Prior to joining Royal Caribbean, Fain spent 13 years at the London-based cargo-shipping company, Gotaas-Larsen Shipping Corp. Fain also is a University of Hartford parent; his son, Ben, graduated from the Hartford Art School in 2002.

John Corigliano, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Music, continues to add to one of the richest, most unusual, and most widely celebrated bodies of work any composer has produced over the past 40 years. His scores, numbering more than 100, have won a Pulitzer Prize, three Grammy Awards, and an Academy Award. His works—including three symphonies and eight concerti, among other chamber, choral, and orchestral works—have been performed and recorded by many of the world’s most prominent orchestras, soloists, and chamber musicians. One of the few living composers to have a string quartet named for him, Corigliano serves on the composition faculty at the Juilliard School of Music and holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Music at Lehman College, City University of New York.

Walter Wick, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, is best known for his acclaimed search-and-find book series, I Spy and Can You See What I See?, which have entertained millions of children for the past two decades. A native of Hartford, Conn., Wick started his career working as a photographer for magazines that included Psychology Today, Discover, and Games. In 1985, one of his images—a shot of odds and ends—caught the eye of Jean Marzollo, the editor of Let’s Find Out, a magazine for kindergartners. Wick and Marzollo collaborated on the enormously successful I Spy picture books, and by 1999, Wick and Marzollo had produced eight original titles, generating sales in the millions. Wick’s solo book, Can You See What I See? Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list in 2002.

During his decade long tenure as dean of The Hartt School, Malcolm Morrison oversaw the school’s expansion from a distinguished music conservatory into a performing arts conservatory with dance and theatre divisions. Currently the University Professor of Theatre, Morrison is credited with adding breadth and depth to the brilliant and dedicated Hartt faculty by attracting great artists from all over the world to join longtime faculty members. He nurtured and supported faculty and students, directed many spectacular performances himself, and provided encouragement for hundreds of dazzling additional performances over the years.

Nancy Stula earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in visual communication design from the Hartford Art School in 1983 and a Bachelor of Arts in art history from the College of Arts and Sciences, summa cum laude, in 1985. She holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in art history from Columbia University. Stula worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City before returning to Connecticut in 1994 and teaching art history at the University of Hartford as an adjunct professor. Stula joined the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Conn., in 2003 as curator and deputy director. She was named interim director in 2008 and became director and curator the following year.