Jean MacCormack Receives Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree at 2024 Commencement

As president of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, an educational center dedicated to teaching the public about the Senate’s role in our government, you worked diligently to foster civil discourse and enhance our democracy. 

As chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, you maintained a global and forward-thinking perspective while expanding the institution’s footprint. Your achievements in this role include opening the first public law school in Massachusetts, substantially increasing the college’s enrollment and research funding, and investing in local communities through the establishment of satellite campuses in Fall River, Massachusetts, and New Bedford, Massachusetts.    

As a faculty member and administrator at the University of Massachusetts Boston, you displayed impeccable leadership. Some of your notable accomplishments include developing a K-12 community outreach program, creating a science teacher learning program and securing research grants that helped advance the study of education. 

As the current chair of the Board of Trustees of Bridgewater State University, you generously offer your counsel and guidance. You help ensure that this institution and the many other organizations to which you have given your time are fulfilling their missions and serving their communities. 

For your contributions to civic life in Massachusetts, your service to the Diocese of Fall River, and your groundbreaking achievements in higher education, the Stonehill College community and citizens of the Commonwealth hold you in high esteem.  

For your work as a dedicated educator and public servant, Stonehill College is proud to bestow upon you, Jean MacCormack, honoris causa, the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. 

Given this nineteenth day of May, 
Two Thousand Twenty-Four 

(Rev.) John F. Denning, C.S.C.
President, Stonehill College