5/2/2008

Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Carl Bernstein and H. Thomas Wells, Jr., president-elect of the American Bar Association, will be the speakers as Suffolk University awards eight honorary degrees at its commencement exercises on Sunday, May 18, 2008, at the Bank of America Pavilion on Boston’s waterfront.

The Law School ceremonies will be held at 9:30 a.m., with Wells speaking, and Bernstein will appear at the College of Arts and Sciences and Sawyer Business School ceremonies at 2 p.m.

Carl Bernstein worked with fellow Washington Post investigative reporter Bob Woodward to uncover the Watergate cover-up that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. He is the co-author, with Woodward, of the best-seller All the President’s Men, which was made into a film, and The Final Days, an account of Nixon’s last days in office. His most recent book is A Woman in Charge, a biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bernstein is now a political commentator and has been offering analysis of the 2008 election on CNN.  He will receive the honorary Doctor of Journalism degree at the afternoon ceremony.

H. Thomas Wells Jr., will become president of the American Bar Association in August. He is a partner and founding member at Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C., in Birmingham, Ala. His practice is focused on complex environmental, toxic tort law and products liability litigation.  Wells has served in leadership roles in the Alabama State Bar, the Birmingham Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He was co-chair of the ABA’s Special Committee on Disaster Response, established after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and has served on the ABA Commission on the American Jury and its Commission on the Future of the Legal Profession. Wells will receive the honorary Doctor of Laws degree at the morning ceremony.

The following honorees will join Wells in receiving honorary degrees from the Law School:

• The Hon, Michael E. Capuano, representative, Eight Congressional District, honorary Doctor of Laws
• The Hon. Richard G. Stearns, U.S. District judge, District of Massachusetts, honorary Doctor of Laws
• The Hon. Laura Taylor Swain, U.S. District judge, Southern District of New York, honorary Doctor of Laws

The following honorees will join Bernstein in receiving honorary degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences and Sawyer Business School:

• Joseph P. Campanelli, president and CEO of Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., and Sovereign Bank, honorary Doctor of Commercial Science
• Maxine Hong Kingston, award-winning author, honorary Doctor of Humane Letters
• Vivian Pinn, director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health, honorary Doctor of Science

          On Saturday, May 17, Suffolk University’s Graduate School ceremonies will take place.  Joseph P. Campanelli will address the Sawyer School of Business graduate students at 10 a.m., Sheraton Boston, 39 Dalton St. Maxine Hong Kingston will address the College of Arts and Sciences graduate students at 1 p.m. at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel,
606 Congress St. Campanelli and Kingston each will be awarded honorary degrees at the afternoon undergraduate commencement exercises on Sunday, May 18.

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