Central Connecticut State University

Central Connecticut State University

Central Connecticut State University is a state university in New Britain, Connecticut, United States.The school was moved to its present campus in 1922...

's annual Commencement Exercises are held each May at the XL Center in Hartford. In most years, a separate graduation ceremony for recipients of advanced degrees is held on campus at Herbert D. Welte Hall.

The ceremony is usually declared "open" by the president of CCSU's faculty senate. This is followed by the national anthem, sung by the CCSU University Singers, an invocation by a member of the campus ministry, greetings from state officials, and brief remarks from the president of the CCSU Alumni Association and from a student representing the graduands.

This is followed by a commencement address by a previously announced speaker, the singing of the Alma Mater, and the conferral of degrees. At Hartford commencements, a pair of announcers (often including professor Gil Gigliotti

Gilbert L. Gigliotti

Gilbert L. Gigliotti is a Professor of early American literature in the English Department at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut, where he has taught since 1992. He earned a Ph.D...

) read the names of each graduate present at the ceremony, after which the event ends with the drop of hundreds of balloons from the ceiling of the XL Center. There is no ceremonial recession.

CCSU's Wind Symphony provides processional and incidental music before and during the ceremony. Both the Wind Symphony and University Singers perform under the direction of professors from CCSU's Department of Music.

The procession includes the University Mace (usually borne by the president of CCSU's faculty senate) and occasionally the University Staff. Peter J. Vernesoni, a CCSU graduate and professor from 1971 to 2003, designed and carved both of these artifacts.

CCSU commencement speakers since 2005

CCSU's commencement speakers are often successful alumni such as Congressman John B. Larson (D-1st), CitiFinancial CEO Michael Knapp, and CCSU professor Kristine Larsen. The table below lists speakers since 2005.

academic year	date a	location	address given by	degrees conferred
2005-06	December 17, 2005 b	CCSU	John W. Miller, CCSU president	graduate only
	May 20, 2006	Hartford	Bob Englehart, editorial cartoonist, the Hartford Courant	undergraduate only
	Thursday, May 25, 2006	CCSU	Bob Englehart	graduate only
2006-07	December 16, 2006	CCSU	Denise L. Nappier Denise L. Nappier Denise L. Nappier is the current state treasurer of the U.S. state of Connecticut. A Democrat, she was first elected in 1998 and was re-elected in 2002, 2006, and 2010. She is the first African-American woman elected to statewide office in the history of Connecticut.-Career:Prior to her election as... , Connecticut State Treasurer Connecticut State Treasurer The Connecticut State Treasurer serves the office of treasurer for the state of Connecticut.-List of State Treasurers:-External links:***...	all
	May 19, 2007 c	Hartford	Joseph J. Grano, Jr., CEO, Centurion Holdings	all
2007-08	May 17, 2008	Hartford	M. Jodi Rell M. Jodi Rell Mary Jodi Rell is a Republican politician and was the 87th Governor of the U.S. state of Connecticut from 2004 until 2011. She was the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut under Governor John G. Rowland, who resigned during a corruption investigation. Rell is Connecticut's second female Governor,... , Governor of Connecticut	all
2008-09	May 23, 2009	Hartford	Carol A. Ammon, founder, Endo Pharmaceuticals Endo Pharmaceuticals Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. is an American pharmaceutical company. It was created as a result of a management buyout from DuPont Merck in 1997. Three DuPont Merck executives Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. is an American pharmaceutical company. It was created as a result of a management buyout from...	undergraduate only
	Wednesday, May 27, 2009	CCSU	Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. Lowell Palmer Weicker, Jr. is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the 85th Governor of Connecticut, and unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for President in 1980... , former Governor of Connecticut	graduate only

The information in this table was compiled from CCSU's Commencement Exercises programs, 2005-2009.

Notes: (a) All dates are Saturdays unless noted otherwise. (b) Miller's investiture as president preceded the conferral of degrees. (c) Grano was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters

Doctor of Humane Letters

The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters is always conferred as an honorary degree, usually to those who have distinguished themselves in areas other than science, government, literature or religion, which are awarded degrees of Doctor of Science, Doctor of Laws, Doctor of Letters, or Doctor of...

 during the ceremony.

Recipients of CCSU Honorary Degrees

CCSU has awarded 52 honorary doctoral degrees

Honorary degree

An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...

 since 1985. Awardees have included the CEOs or Chairmen of six major corporations, four U.S. Presidents, and heads of state of Canada, Germany, Hungary, and Poland.

awardee		date	degree*
	Mayor, Atsugi City, Japan	05/23/1990	L.H.D.
	Bishop of Accra, Ghana	05/18/2000	L.H.D.
	Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary	09/30/1991	LL.D.
	President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching	10/05/1987	L.H.D.
	Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Transportation Connecticut Department of Transportation The Connecticut Department of Transportation is responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways and aviation facilities in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The current Commissioner of ConnDOT is Jeffrey Parker...	01/03/1995	LL.D.
	President of the United States President of the United States The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....	03/11/1999	LL.D.
	President of the United States	04/18/2001	LL.D.
	Executive Director, Emergency Training Institute	04/28/1994	Sc.D.
	Head Coach, Dallas Cowboys Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...	05/22/1999	D.H.P.Ed.
	President of the United States	04/16/1985	L.H.D.
	Professor of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...	11/04/2003	L.H.D.
	Chancellor, Kyung Hee University	10/22/1991	L.H.D.
	President, Kyung Hee University	05/23/1998	L.H.D.
	Chairman, Hyundai Hyundai Hyundai ) is a global conglomerate company, part of the Korean chaebol, that was founded in South Korea by one of the most famous businessmen in Korean history: Chung Ju-yung...  Precision and Industry Company	05/26/1989	L.H.D.
	Education Advisor to UNESCO	05/24/1991	L.H.D.
	Capitan (Connecticut Tuskegee Airmen Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps.... )	05/26/2001	L.H.D.
	Chairman, The Stanley Works	05/26/1989	L.H.D.
	Universität der Bundeswehr, Hamburg	05/25/2002	Sc.D.
	Commissioner of Education, Siracusa, Sicily	10/23/1996	L.H.D.
	President of the United States	03/23/1988	L.H.D.
	President, National Education Association National Education Association The National Education Association is the largest professional organization and largest labor union in the United States, representing public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college students preparing to become...	10/04/1988	L.H.D.
	Chairman and CEO, Centurion Holdings, LLC	05/19/2007	L.H.D.
	Chairman and CEO, United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation is an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in the United Technologies Building in Hartford, Connecticut...	05/17/1985	D.S.Sc
	1st Lieutenant (Connecticut Tuskegee Airmen)	05/26/2001	L.H.D.
	Senior Research Astronomer Emeritus, Yale University Yale University Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...	10/20/1998	Sc.D.
	Executive Director, NAACP	05/20/1988	L.H.D.
	Chairman, C. J. Huang Foundation	05/10/1990	L.H.D.
	CCSU President Emeritus	10/16/2003	L.H.D.
	Deputy to the Under-Secretary-General, United Nations United Nations The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...	05/27/1993	L.H.D.
	Senior Principal, Updike, Kelly & Spellacy	02/25/2003	LL.D.
	United States Representative to the United Nations	04/04/1991	L.H.D.
	Secretary of State of the United States	03/24/1987	D.S.Sc
	President and CEO, CitiFinancial Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...	05/25/2002	D.C.Sc.
	Minister of Education, Jamaica	12/04/1999	Sc.D.
	Director, National Park Service National Park Service The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...	05/23/2002	D.P.S.
	Attorney, Januszewski, McQuillan & DeNigris	02/23/2004	D.C.J.
	U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader	04/12/2000	LL.D.
	Prime Minister of Canada Prime Minister of Canada The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...	04/26/1994	D.S.Sc
	Flight Officer (Connecticut Tuskegee Airmen)	05/26/2001	L.H.D.
	Surgeon General of the United States Surgeon General of the United States The Surgeon General of the United States is the operational head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government...	05/28/1993	Sc.D.
	President, State University of New York at Albany	05/28/1994	D.S.Sc
	CCSU Campus Clergy	05/22/2003	D.P.S.
	First Lady of Puerto Rico First Lady of Puerto Rico First Lady of Puerto Rico is the title traditionally given to the spouse of the Governor of Puerto Rico. The current First Lady is Lucé Vela.-Current:...	05/20/1999	L.H.D.
	Lord Mayor of Rastatt Rastatt Rastatt is a city and baroque residence in the District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50'000... , Baden-Württemberg, Germany	06/06/1991	L.H.D.
	Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany	04/28/1993	L.H.D.
	Chairman and CEO, Tilcon, Inc	05/25/1990	L.H.D.
	Commissioner, Major League Baseball Major League Baseball Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...	04/28/1992	L.H.D.
	Principal, Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College, Montego Bay, Jamaica	05/27/2004	Ped.D.
	President of Poland	04/10/1996	L.H.D.
	Lieutenant Colonel (Connecticut Tuskegee Airmen)	05/26/2001	L.H.D.
	Rector, Technical University of Wrocław	05/28/1993	Sc.D.
	Pastor Emeritus, Holy Cross Church, New Britain	04/29/1999	L.H.D.

Notes: † recipient is a CCSU graduate; * abbreviated degree names: D.C.J.: Doctor of Criminal Justice; D.C.Sc.: Doctor of Commercial Science; D.H.P.Ed.: Doctor of Health and Physical Education; D.P.S.: Doctor of Public Service; D.S.Sc: Doctor of Social Science; L.H.D.: Doctor of Humane Letters; LL.D.: Doctor of Laws; Ped.D.: Doctor of Pedagogy; Sc.D.: Doctor of Science.