Alumni to be Honored at Commencement

The University of Hartford will present its Distinguished Alumni Award to broadcasting executive and businessman Richard Belkin ’56 during the main Commencement ceremony on May 17.

In addition, The Hartt School will honor Carmino Ravosa ’57, ’65 as Hartt Alumnus of the Year during the school’s diploma presentation ceremony, which will follow the University-wide ceremony. Ravosa is considered one of the most popular songwriters for schools in the country.

Richard Belkin ‘56

Belkin is a 1956 graduate of Hillyer College, one of the three schools that joined together in 1957 to form the University of Hartford. He is currently chairman and treasurer of World of New York, Inc., which, prior to 9/11, was a corporate partner of Top of the World at the World Trade Center observation deck. He founded the company in 1988 after a successful 38-year career in the broadcasting industry.

Belkin began his broadcasting career in 1950 as a panelist on the NBC radio network series ”Mind Your Manners,” hosted by Allen Ludden. Joining the General Electric Company in 1961, he was named vice president and general manager for radio and television stations in Denver and Schenectady, N.Y., and for the Command Performance Network, one of the country’s first communication systems devoted to arena sports. While at Command Performance, Belkin created the concept of the electronic racetrack adopted by the state of Connecticut for off-track betting.

He later became executive vice president of McClatchy Newspapers Inc., where he was responsible for the company’s two television stations, seven radio stations and all cable operations. In 1977, he joined Lee Enterprises in Davenport, Iowa, as vice president, broadcasting and corporate planning, and was a member of its board of directors. He was responsible for a broadcast group with TV stations across the United States.

In 1998 Belkin and his wife, Sherry, endowed the Belkin Scholars program, which supplements the University’s Hartford Scholars program. Belkin Scholars receive generous scholarship awards to help them complete their undergraduate degrees.

Carmino Ravosa ’57, ’65

Ravosa earned a Bachelor of Music Education from The Hartt School in 1957 and a Master of Music in 1965. He currently serves as Composer-in-Residence and Faculty Fellow at The Dalton School in New York City, and also has been Composer-in-Residence for the Edison Project, the largest private manager of charter schools in the nation. In addition, Ravosa is an author and the composer of the two most popular school music textbook series in the nation: Theme Musicals for Silver Burdett & Ginn’s The Music Connection, and World of Music. On television, he was a songwriter for the CBS Captain Kangaroo Show and for PBS Shining Time Station. He also has written songs for Sesame Street Magazine.

Ravosa gave a solo command performance of his musical Ghosts in the White House for President and Mrs. Carter and 600 Halloween guests. He also performed his musicals Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution and From George to George (sung by Sesame Street’s “Big Bird”) at the Inauguration of President George H.W. Bush. In February 2001, he performed From George to George at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History during President’s Week. His musical Seneca Falls was performed at Carnegie Hall for the Women’s Hall of Fame, and his Scarecrow (Nathaniel Hawthorne) won four major awards at the International Light Opera Festival in Waterford, Ireland.