News & Events
City Tech Taps Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez
to Deliver Commencement Address on June 2
Velázquez
Carey
New York City College of Technology (City Tech) will mark the annual rite of passage for graduating students at its 63rd Commencement Exercises on Monday, June 2, beginning at 10:30 a.m., in the Theater at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. President Fred W. Beaufait will confer more than 1,500 degrees, including more than 1,000 associate and 500 baccalaureate, making this the largest number of baccalaureate degrees awarded in a single year in the history of the College.
Delivering the commencement address and receiving the President's Award is Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez, who rose from humble beginnings in a small sugarcane town in Puerto Rico to be the first person in her family to receive a college diploma and the first Latina elected to Congress.
With the support of CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, the College has recommended that an honorary doctorate in commercial science be awarded to William Polk Carey, chairman and founder of W. P. Carey & Co. LLC, the world's largest publicly traded limited liability company. His selection will be acted on by the CUNY Board of Trustees at its May 27th meeting.
The Class of 2003 valedictorian is Jed Gelber, 44, a former marine corporal who overcame more than 20 years of substance abuse problems. He is graduating with a perfect 4.0 index in legal assistant studies and will be attending CUNY School of Law in the fall.
Hon. Nydia M. Velázquez
President's Award Recipient and Commencement Speaker
Congresswoman Velázquez has made history several times during her tenure in Congress. In 1992, she was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In February of 1998, she was named Ranking Democratic Member of the House Small Business Committee, making her the first Hispanic woman to serve as Chair or Ranking Member of a full committee in the history of the House.
Born in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, and one of nine children, Velázquez started school early, skipped several grades, and entered the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras at age 16. She graduated magna cum laude in 1974 with a degree in political science, becoming the first person in her family to receive a college diploma. After earning an MA in political science on scholarship from NYU in 1976, Congresswoman Velázquez taught Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College.
In 1983, Velázquez was appointed special assistant to Congressman Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn). One year later, she became the first Latina appointed to serve on the New York City Council. By 1986, Velázquez was director of the U.S. Department of Puerto Rican Community Affairs and initiated one of the most successful Latino empowerment programs in the nation's history -- Atrevete (Dare to Go for It!).
In 1992, she was elected to the House of Representatives from New York's 12th Congressional District, which includes parts of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan's Lower East Side. Her district, encompassing many diverse neighborhoods, is home to a large Latino population and includes Polish communities and parts of Chinatown.
A fighter for the rights of the underrepresented and a proponent of economic opportunity for the working class and poor, Congresswoman Velázquez strives to encourage economic development, protect community health and the environment, combat crime and worker abuse, and secure access to affordable housing, quality education and health care for all New Yorkers.
She is the Ranking Member of the House Small Business
Committee and also serves on the House Financial Services Committee,
where she is second in seniority on its Subcommittee on Housing
and Community Opportunity.
William Polk Carey
Honorary Doctorate in Commercial Science
Carey began his career in international corporate finance in 1959 at age 29, bringing the first foreign direct investment into Australia. Before founding W. P. Carey & Co. LLC in New York City in 1973, he served as chairman of the executive committee of Hubbard, Westervelt & Mottelay (now Merrill Lynch Hubbard), head of real estate and equipment financing at Loeb, Rhoades & Co. (now Lehman Brothers) and vice chairman/investment banking of duPont Glore Forgan, Inc.
Over the past 30 years, W. P. Carey & Co. LLC has built a strong record of success centered on its unique strategy of providing creative real estate financing solutions to companies seeking additional capital through the corporate net lease or sale-leaseback financing structure.
When companies lease rather than own their facilities,
they are able to use this much-needed capital to pay down debt,
fund future growth or finance other corporate initiatives. W. P.
Carey owns and/or manages more than 400 commercial and industrial
properties throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Carey serves on the boards of The Johns Hopkins
University, its School of Advanced International Studies and other
educational and philanthropic institutions. At Johns Hopkins, the
most popular undergraduate minor is the W. P. Carey Program in Entrepreneurship
and Management. He is a member of the council of Templeton College,
Oxford. With Nobel Laureate Lawrence R. Klein, he helped establish
the University of Pennsylvania Economics Research Institute, of
which he now serves as chairman.
Following a devastating earthquake in India in
January 2001, Carey committed $1 million toward relief efforts.
Thanks to that donation, 30 grade schools have been built serving
more than 5,000 students.
In 1999, Carey served as executive in residence at Harvard Business School, and he is a former governor of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. He earned a BS in economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1953 and an honorary doctor of science degree (ScD honoris causa) from Arizona State University (ASU) in 1998.
