Commencement
March 10, 2020
The Office of the President at University of Portland has announced the speaker and honorees to be recognized during the 2020 Commencement ceremonies held on the UP campus in the Chiles Center on Sunday, May 3. Commencement I will begin at 10 a.m. and is for all graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Education. Commencement II starts at 3 p.m. and is held for all graduates of the Pamplin School of Business, Donald P. Shiley School of Engineering, and School of Nursing.
“The 2020 University of Portland Commencement Honorees are inspiring visionaries who have had a profound impact on their communities and our world,” said University President Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C. “I am thrilled that our University community will come together to celebrate these extraordinary individuals at our Commencement Exercises in May.”
The 2020 Commencement honorees are:
Receiving the University’s highest honor, the Christus Magister Medal, is University Provost Thomas G. Greene, Ed.D. Dr. Greene has served the University of Portland and Catholic higher education for more than 35 years. As an instructor, administrator, professor and leader, Dr. Greene will conclude his career with retirement at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year. Dr. Greene joined UP in 1983 as an Adjunct Instructor. Before becoming a full-time member of the faculty in 2004, he enjoyed a long and distinguished career in public education. While at the University of Portland, he held leadership positions as Associate Dean of the School of Education (2004–07), Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (2007–12), Interim Dean of the School of Education (2009–10), and Interim Provost (2012–13), before being named the University Provost in 2013. A brilliant and dedicated teacher who is devoted to his students, Dr. Greene has taught courses every fall and spring semester since 1983 in addition to his significant administrative leadership duties. In 2020, Dr. Greene was honored by the Congregation of Holy Cross, U.S. Province of Priests and Brothers, with the Spirit of Holy Cross Award.
Father Gregory J. Boyle, S.J., the speaker for both ceremonies and an honorary doctorate recipient, is the founder of Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries. Homeboy Industries, one of the largest and most-successful gang rehabilitation organizations in the world, supports over 10,000 high-risk youth, former gang members, and recently-incarcerated individuals as they re-enter society. The organization accomplishes this through education, job training, and an array of additional services. Father Boyle is an inspirational leader who has received the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame and the California Peace Prize, among many other honors.
University Board of Regent Nancy Bryant has been a renowned community leader and devoted philanthropist in the city of Portland. She has focused her inspiring efforts in the areas of education, mental health, and issues affecting women and children. After beginning her career in public affairs with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Kansas City, she worked in Detroit as a public relations consultant. In Portland, she serves on the boards of Providence St. Vincent Medical Foundation and Oregon Episcopal School, and she has served on the boards of Lifeworks NW, Jesuit High School, and the Portland Women’s Foundation, as well as the Oregon State Advisory Board for Stand for Children. Bryant also served as co-chair of the University’s RISE Campaign, which raised $182 million in support of the University and its mission.
As Chair of the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Cheryle Kennedy is a noted leader in both Indian public health and tribal administration. Kennedy has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in Indian healthcare administration and has served as the Grand Ronde’s Tribal Health Director for nearly fifteen years. Kennedy has previously served as the Executive Director of the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board. She received the Outstanding Service Award from the National Indian Health Board and has been named an Outstanding Leader in Health Care by the Oregon Department of Health. Kennedy currently serves on the boards of the Oregon Business Association, Willamette Heritage Area Coalition, and West Valley Hospital Foundation.
Best-selling author Marilynne Robinson, Ph.D. will be honored in absentia during Commencement I. Robinson received her Honorary Doctoral Degree when she delivered the 2019 Zahm Lecture on campus. A distinguished professor at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Robinson’s novels, essays, and other works have garnered her the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and the Library of Congress Lifetime Achievement Award in American Fiction. In 2012, Robinson was the recipient of a 2012 National Humanities Medal, awarded by former President Barack Obama, and in 2016, she was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Robinson’s writings serve as journeys through the human condition, revealing its triumphs, its tribulations, and its innate magnificence.
Professor Emeritus of Liturgical Theology, Rev. H. Richard Rutherford, C.S.C., Ph.D., served in the UP Theology department from 1976 until his retirement in 2012. A renowned expert in the theology of death and bereavement, his books, The Death of a Christian: The Order of Christian Funerals and Dead: Catholics and Cremation, are required reading in many seminaries and colleges. In recent years, Father Rutherford has turned his significant research energies to early Christian baptismal liturgy and architecture. At UP, he has held numerous leadership positions, including Chair of the Theology Department; Lead University Representative to Pietro Belluschi, architect of the Chapel of Christ the Teacher; and, Director of the University’s partnership with the University of Barcelona on the archaeological excavation of an ancient cemetery in Pollentia, the oldest Roman city on Mallorca.
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