Endicott College Commencement

Beverly, MA – Endicott College holds its seventy-third commencement exercises on Friday, May 24 at 10:30 am at the Stadium, Endicott College, 376 Hale Street, Beverly, MA.
 
725 students are expected to graduate in 2013:  200 with Master of Arts, Master of Education, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, or Master of Fine Arts degrees, 520 students with Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, or Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees, and five with Associate in Arts or Associate in Science degrees.

Colin Angle will be the commencement speaker and recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. He is the Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of iRobot Corp, and one of the world’s leading authorities on mobile robots.

An industry pioneer with more than two decades of experience and numerous professional awards, Angle co-founded iRobot in 1990. Before that, he was president of Artificial Creatures Inc and worked at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He has been named CEO of the Year by the Mass Technology Leadership Council, a Mass High Tech All-Star, one of Fortune Small Business’ Best Bosses and New England Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young (with iRobot co-founder Helen Greiner). Angle has appeared as an industry expert on CNN, CNBC, Business Week, CNET, the New York Times and Newsweek. He is active on the Robotics & Intelligent Machines (RIM) advisory board.

Angle holds a bachelors degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in computer science, both from MIT. His master thesis produced Genghis, a six-legged autonomous walking robot that now resides at the Smithsonian National Air and Science Museum in Washington, D.C.

Michael A. Charles will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the ceremony.  He is the General Secretary of the Bermuda Union of Teachers. He is an accomplished educator who taught high school in Brooklyn and Staten Island before relocating to Bermuda to continue his teaching career as Deputy Principal at Paget Primary School.  Before becoming General Secretary, he served as president twice and Vice President of the Caribbean Union of Teachers.  He was recently appointed by the Governor to be a Justice of the Peace.

Charles has served as Vice President of the Bermuda National Athletic Association, and is a member of the Bermuda National Education Committee, National Drug Commission, the National Training Board, and the Caribbean Education Awards Committee. 

Charles holds Master and Bachelor degrees from the City University of New York.

Ernest J. Mannino will also receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the ceremony.  He is the Deputy Executive Director for the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), where he focuses on advocacy, governance and government relations, and also the CEO of the National Association of Elementary School Principals Foundation, a position responsible for managing grants that seek to recognize outstanding service to the profession.

Prior to his work with NAESP, he was the Executive Director of the Virginia Association of Elementary School Principals. He has also worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as a legislative analyst on the Committee on Education and Labor, chief clerk on the Committee on House Administration, and in the Director of Congressional Intern Program.

Mannino’s community activities include working with Montgomery County on the Human Relations Commission, Partnership Board for Victims of Hate/Violence, Task Force on Mentoring, and the Board of Education. He served as a Lyndon Baines Johnson Congressional Intern, has won the Pathfinders Award for Outstanding Educational Leadership by the Virginia Association of Elementary School Principals, and received a Resolution of Appreciation from  the Virginia State Board of Education.

Mannino received his bachelor’s degree from Westfield State College.

Joanne Holbrook Patton will also receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the ceremony.  She is owner and CEO of Green Meadows Farm in Hamilton, MA, the region’s only certified organic farm. Before assuming its leadership upon the death of her husband, Major General George S. Patton  in 2004, Patton owned and directed Patton Consultant Services, a national resource agency providing trainers, consultants and speakers to nonprofit organizations. Today, Green Meadows Farm features its own organic produce, pasture-raised meats, a 350-member CSA, a  farmstand,  eco-tours,  children’s educational programs, and community festivals.  

As the mother of five, including a mentally-challenged son, Patton has made the concerns of people with disabilities a personal cause, during her 28 years as a military wife and in her civilian community service. She co-founded the Special Friends program for adults with special needs and earlier co-founded and produced a cable television program , Ready, Willing, Enable, highlighting services for persons living with disabilities.

Patton’s life as an Army wife led her to senior volunteer service as the first national volunteer consultant for both American Red Cross Services to Military Families and the Army Community Service.  She served for many years on the Advisory Council for the National Military Family Association and was awarded both the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal and the Distinguished Community Service Decoration from the Department of the Army.

Patton has served on the boards of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce, the North Shore Music Theatre, C.A.S.T. (The Center for Applied Special Technology) and the Walnut Hill School, among others.  She is an emerita Board member of Sweet Briar College, her alma mater, which honored her with its Distinguished Alumna award, and of Norwich University’s Board of Fellows.  Three organizations have established scholarships in her name.                                                         

The Excellence in Teaching Award, voted on by the graduating class, goes to Professor Brendan Cronin who completed his hospitality management studies in Ireland and is a graduate of the City and Guilds Institute of London. Brendan has a Master of Business Administration from Endicott College where he teaches Events Management, Culinary Arts, Hospitality Entrepreneurship and Senior Internship Seminars. He serves on several committees on campus and is the chapter advisor for Eta Sigma Delta, The International Hospitality Management Honor Society. In 2012, Brendan published his first book, Cheffin’ - the first part of a trilogy autobiography.

Before coming to Endicott, Brendan worked in Switzerland in various 5 star hotels, restaurants and resorts. He has also worked for major international hotel companies in Ireland, Switzerland, Africa, Thailand, Macao, Malaysia and Singapore. Prior to joining Endicott College in 1995, He taught at Les Roches Hotel Management School in Switzerland – rated one of the top hotel management schools in the world. During his stay at Les Roches, he obtained his Master Chef qualification, the highest culinary achievement recognized worldwide.

Brendan has worked on several hospitality textbooks, especially in the field of translation and translated the original textbook "Precis de Cuisine" from French and German to English for the Swiss food company, Nestlé. He is a member of the American Culinary Federation (ACF), The International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (I-CHRIE), and the Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA).

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