During a chilly but dry Commencement on Sunday, May 17, former LEGO President Peter Eio urged graduates concerned about the global recession to find hope in the experiences of two legendary toy companies.

Eio, who also is a University regent, addressed the nearly 1,300 members of the Class of 2009 at the University's 52nd Commencement ceremony. Both Eio and another former toy industry executive – Alan Hassenfeld, former chairman of Hasbro, Inc. – were presented with honorary Doctor of Commercial Science degrees.

See a Commencement photo gallery, watch the ceremony in streaming video, listen to Eio's Commencement address, and listen to student speaker Adam Stanisic '09.

“Although you may encounter difficulties in finding your dream job in the current global economic recession, it’s worth remembering that both LEGO and Hasbro were founded around the time of the great depression of the early 1930s,” Eio told the graduates.

“Through imagination, entrepreneurship and sheer hard work, the founders survived the austerity years making simple wooden toys and pencil boxes and eventually their modest beginnings led to two successful global companies whose cultures are both based on the same family values,” Eio said. "Values of respect for the individual and supporting the communities in which they started."

As a follow-up to the honorary degrees presented to Eio and Hassenfeld, LEGO and Hasbro plan to donate a large quantity of toys and games to be distributed to area children through the Blue Hills Civic Association and the Upper Albany Neighborhood Collaborative, University President Walter Harrison announced during the Commencement ceremony.

In addition to Eio and Hassenfeld, honorary degrees were presented Sunday to Donald Sinta, a former Hartt School faculty member, acclaimed saxophonist, and chair of the Winds Department at the University of Michigan; and Louise Blalock, who recently retired after 14 years as chief librarian of the Hartford Public Library. Sinta received an honorary Doctor of Music, and Blalock was presented with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

In addition, the University presented its Distinguished Alumni Award to broadcasting executive and businessman Richard Belkin '56.

Among the many happy graduates at Sunday's Commencement ceremony were six faculty members from Herat University in Afghanistan, who earned master's degrees in civil engineering. The six men are part of a contingent of 12 Afghani educators who are studying engineering or architecture here as part of a partnership between the University of Hartford and Herat University. The partnership is being funded by a nearly $2 million grant from the World Bank and an earlier $215,000 grant from the United States Agency for International Development.

Also graduating Sunday was former Student Government Association President Adam Stanisic '09, who delivered inspiring words to his classmates in his Charge to the Graduating Class of 2009.

Given the economic climate and the turmoil around the globe, "many people would believe that today is an unfortunate time to be a graduate," said Stanisic, whose family is from Croatia and who is the first in his family to earn a college degree. "[But] great problems and great strife are always followed by great opportunity and great change. This graduating class, more than any other, [is] prepared to inherit the world’s problems. So I don’t believe that today is an unfortunate day to be a graduate. I believe today is the most exciting day to be a graduate."

Five faculty members were honored during Sunday’s Commencement ceremony for their exceptional achievements. David Pines, associate professor in the College of Engineering, Technology and Architecture (CETA), received the Roy E. Larsen Award for Excellence in Teaching; Katie Stevinson-Nollet, assistant professor of dance at The Hartt School, was presented with the James E. and Frances W. Bent Award for Scholarly and/or Artistic Creativity; Karen Lucas Breda, associate professor of nursing in the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions (ENHP), was recognized with the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Award for Sustained Service to the University; and Karen Barrett – who wears many different hats, including director of the All-University Curriculum – received the Donald W. Davis All-University Curriculum Award.

In addition, the first-ever Belle K. Ribicoff Junior Faculty Prize was presented to Michael Robinson, assistant professor of history at Hillyer College.

Three graduating students also were honored for their outstanding accomplishments. Kelly Cipriano, an illustration major in the Hartford Art School, was recognized with the Belle K. Ribicoff Prize; Daniel Hultgren, the first student to graduate with a dual major in physics and philosophy (A&S), received the John G. Martin Scholarship for two years of study at Oxford University; and Maegen Garthwaite, an accounting major in the Barney School of Business, was awarded the John G. Lee Medal.