MDC Announces 2004 Commencement Ceremonies: First Lady Laura Bush Headlines Keynote Speakers
April 22 2004 - 12:45PM
PR Newswire (US)
MDC Announces 2004 Commencement Ceremonies: First Lady Laura Bush
Headlines Keynote Speakers MIAMI, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Laura
Bush, First Lady of the United States, will speak at Miami Dade
College's North Campus commencement ceremony, one of six separate
graduation ceremonies the college is hosting on Saturday May 1,
2004 for some six thousand graduates. Mrs. Bush will address the
graduates and their families at the North Campus commencement
ceremony, where she will also be awarded an Honorary Degree, at
10:30 a.m. at the James L. Knight Center on 400 SE 2nd Avenue,
Miami. MDC will also recognize imprisoned Cuban political dissident
Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, president of the Lawton Foundation for
Human Rights, with an Honorary Degree at 5 p.m. at the Kendall
Campus commencement, to be held at the Theodore Gibson Health
Center (Gym), at 11011 SW 104 St, Kendall. Knight Foundation CEO
Hodding Carter III will be the keynote speaker at that event.
Florida Supreme Court Justice R. Fred Lewis will be the keynote
speaker at the Homestead Campus commencement, where he will also
receive an Honorary Degree, at 8 a.m. in the Homestead YMCA,
located at 1034 NE 8th Street, Homestead. The Honorable Manny Diaz,
Mayor of Miami, will be the keynote speaker at the Wolfson Campus
commencement, to be held at 7:00 p.m. in the James L. Knight Center
on 400 SE 2nd Avenue, Miami, where Osvaldo Soto, of the Spanish
American League Against Discrimination, will receive an Honorary
Degree. Below is the list of MDC's six commencement ceremonies in
order of time of day: 8 a.m. Homestead Campus at YMCA at 1034 NE
8th Street, Homestead Keynote Speaker: Florida Supreme Court
Justice Alfred Lewis, who will also receive an Honorary Degree. 250
graduates expected at commencement. The procession will start at
8:00 a.m. preceded by the St. Andrews Bag Pipe Band 10:30 a.m.
North Campus at James L. Knight Center, 400 SE 2nd Avenue, Miami
Keynote Speaker: Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States, who
will also receive an Honorary Degree. 1,460 graduates expected at
commencement. 12 noon InterAmerican Campus at Dade County
Auditorium, 2901 West Flagler St., Miami Keynote Speaker: Joe
Oglesby, Editorial Page Editor, The Miami Herald 290 graduates
expected at commencement. 2:30 p.m. Medical Center Campus at the
James L. Knight Center, 400 SE 2nd Avenue Keynote Speaker: Miami
Dade College Professor Susan Kass 1,050 graduates expected at
commencement. At the end of the ceremony, Medical Center Campus
graduates blow bubbles from bubble pens as they march out. 5:00
p.m. Kendall Campus, Theodore Gibson Health Center (Gym), 11011 SW
104 St. Keynote Speaker: Hodding Carter III, President & CEO,
Knight Foundation Honorary Degree Recipient: Dr. Oscar Elias
Biscet, Cuban Political Prisoner 1,900 graduates expected at
commencement. At the end of the ceremony, hundreds of blue &
white balloons drop from the ceiling. 7:00 p.m. Wolfson Campus at
the James L. Knight Center, 400 SE 2nd Avenue Keynote Speaker:
Honorable Manny Diaz, Mayor of Miami Honorary Degree Recipient:
Osvaldo Soto, Spanish American League Against Discrimination 1,070
graduates expected at commencement. The Wolfson College Choir will
be performing during the Ceremony, and there will be the
traditional parade of flags representing the various countries of
graduate origin. Afro-Cuban physician Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet is the
founder and president of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, an
organization founded in 1997 to promote justice and respect for
human dignity. Dr. Biscet was repeatedly imprisoned by Fidel
Castro's regime as a result of his outspokenness on issues of human
rights abuse in the Cuban health system. He is currently jailed in
the Kilo 8 prison in Pinar del Rio. Dr. Biscet is part of a new
generation of Cuban human rights activists who are inspired by the
example of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Ghandi and the
Dalai Lama, and their use of civil disobedience to promote social
change and public awareness against injustice. Florida Supreme
Court Justice R. Fred Lewis was appointed to the Supreme Court of
Florida on December 7, 1998, by the late Gov. Lawton Chiles.
Formerly in private practice in Miami, Judge Lewis specialized in
civil trial and appellate litigation. Selected as Florida's Citizen
of the Year in 2001 by the Florida Council, Justice Lewis has been
heavily involved in children's issues, serving as a member of the
Board of Directors of Miami Children's Hospital and many of its
committees and panels. In 2001 he also received the "Everyday Hero"
award for his outstanding contributions to community service in
Florida. This and other news releases from MDC's Media Relations
Department are available on the web at http://www.mdc.edu/.
DATASOURCE: Miami Dade College CONTACT: Beverly Counts Rodrigues,
Director of Media Relations, +1-305-237-3366 or Paola Prado,
+1-305-237-3710, both of Miami Dade College Web site:
http://www.mdcc.edu/
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