Reverend Dr. Calvin Butts Addresses Hunter Graduates at Radio City Music Hall

Evelyn Lauder, Dennis Walcott and several graduates honored during ceremony

Date: June 8, 2004
Contact: Deborah Sack (deborah.sack@hunter.cuny.edu)
Phone: (212) 772-4070

NEW YORK, NY – June 8, 2004 – Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City and president of SUNY College at Old Westbury, addressed more than 1,700 students and guests at Hunter’s 189th Commencement on Tuesday, June 8 at Radio City Music Hall and received a President’s Medal for community activism from Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab.

“Education should do three things,” Butts told the graduates. “It ought to build your character; it ought to increase your knowledge, and ought to help you earn a living,” “We have turned it upside down. We have put earning a living at the top and building character at the bottom.”

During the commencement exercises, President Raab also conferred an honorary degree on Evelyn Lauder, a 1958 Hunter College alumna. Lauder is currently Senior Corporate Vice President and Director of Estée Lauder, Inc., one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of beauty products. Lauder is also known for her dedication to breast cancer research, funding The Evelyn Lauder Breast Center at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and establishing the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which has raised millions of dollars for breast cancer research.

Dennis M. Walcott, the Deputy Mayor of Policy of New York City, was also the recipient of a President’s Medal. Walcott previously served as the President and CEO of the New York Urban League.

Three Hunter graduates were recognized during the commencement exercises for their extraordinary achievements. Van Tran, a summa cum laude sociology major, is a Vietnamese refugee who lived for seven years in refugee camps in Thailand before he and his family finally made it to America. Van arrived in New York City in 1998, knowing very little English. He is headed to Harvard in the fall to begin a Ph.D. program in sociology and public policy, which will be funded by a Soros Foundation Fellowship for New Americans.

Sisters Thera and Sanatha Alexis graduated alongside each other, each earning top honors. Thera, a member of the Honors Science Research Program at Hunter, graduated with a degree in biology, while Sanatha, a Golden Key International Honor Society member, graduated with a BA/MA in economics.  The sisters, who grew up on a small farm in Grenada, came together to New York to attend Hunter. Thera will begin a Ph.D. program in molecular biology at Columbia in the fall and Sanatha will be pursuing a Ph.D. program in economics.

Among the 1,770 graduates who received their degrees was valedictorian Guina Cohen, a triple major in special honors political science and psychology with a 4.0 GPA. Hunter awarded undergraduate degrees to 1,050 within the School of Arts and Sciences; 101 within the School of Health Professions; and one within the School of Education. Five hundred ninety one students received graduate degrees -- 90 within the School of Arts and Sciences; 204 within the School of Education; 135 within the School of Health Professions; and 162 within the School of Social Work.

About Hunter
With a highly diverse student population of more than 20,000, Hunter is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system and the first choice among all CUNY applicants. Founded in 1870, the College offers more than 170 undergraduate and graduate programs. Hunter is noted for its professional schools in education, health sciences, nursing and social work, as well as its excellence in the liberal arts. Heralded as the "Crown Jewel of CUNY" by The Princeton Review, Hunter College has a distinguished reputation for nurturing talented minority scientists and meeting the challenge of providing high-quality science education in the 21st century. The College also oversees the Hunter College Campus Schools serving gifted and talented students, preschool through grade 12. For more information about Hunter College, please visit our Web site at http://www.hunter.cuny.edu.

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