Anita F. Hill, Attorney and Brandeis University Professor of Law, Public Policy,
and Women’s Studies, will be our Commencement keynote speaker.
Hill began her career in private practice in Washington, D.C. with a focus on
banking law and litigation. Before becoming a law professor, she worked for the
U. S. Education Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In 1989, Hill became the first African American to be tenured at the University of
Oklahoma College of Law.
In 1991, Hill was thrust into the public spotlight when she testified before the
Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme
Court nominee, Judge Clarence Thomas. After the hearing, she began speaking to
audiences throughout the United States and internationally about social and
political problems facing the world.
Professor Hill has written commentary for Time, Inc., Newsweek, The New York
Times, The Boston Globe, and Ms. Magazine and appears regularly on national
television programs including Good Morning America, Meet the Press, The Today
Show, The Tavis Smiley Show and Larry King Live.
Professor Hill has received numerous awards and honors, including the Ford Hall
Forum’s First Amendment Award for her promotion of gender and race equality.
Also receiving honorary degrees this year will be business executive and former
MCLA Trustee Foster Devereux who will receive an honorary Doctor of Public
Service; Academy Award-winning painter Stephen Hannock who will receive an
honorary Doctor of Fine Arts; and MCLA alumna, educator, and community
volunteer Josetta Owen ’65 who will receive an honorary Doctor of Humanities.
Mr. Devereux is a former Trustee of the College and a long-time champion of
public higher education. He has a commitment and passion to help create
accessibility through the increase of student scholarships. As a trustee, he was a
lead advocate for what was then North Adams State College to be recognized as a
leading community partner and one of the critical economic engines for North
Adams and Berkshire County. He remains involved with building support for the
College, most recently as a member of the MCLA Foundation Ad-Hoc Fundraising
Committee.
Mr. Hannock is a contemporary luminist painter who lives and works in Berkshire
County. His works are in collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, The Whitney, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Mr. Hannock earned an Academy Award for his design of visual effects for the
1998 film What Dreams May Come.
Ms. Owen used her MCLA training as a teacher of migrant farm workers, and
later dedicated herself to humanitarian service, volunteering at Mother Theresa’s
AIDS hospice in Washington, DC, leading delegations that brought educational
and medical supplies to a deeply impoverished community in El Salvador, and
serving on the board of Nyumbani, a home for abandoned AIDS-afflicted children
near Nairobi, Kenya. She travels extensively throughout the world, most recently
to Tanzania, with an April 2010 trip to Peru planned to volunteer at a home for
severely deformed children.
Anita Hill, Foster Devereux, Stephen Hannock, and Josetta Owen all eagerly
anticipate being part of this year’s celebration. The achievements and many
contributions to Berkshire County, the country, and the world of these remarkable
individuals make them a good match for the accomplished, dedicated, and engaged
members of the Class of 2010 whom we also will celebrate on Commencement
Day.