News & Events
Highlights from City Tech’s 2004 Commencement
From left, President's Award winner Dr. Marva Gordon '69, President Fred Beaufait and honorary degree recipient Ti-Hua Chang
From left, CUNY Trustee Kenneth E. Cook, valedictorian Dianne A. Monrose and CUNY Vice Chancellor Otis Hill
View Transcript of Ti-Hua Chang’s address
View Transcript of valedictorian Dianne A. Monrose’s address
View Image Gallery - City Tech's 64th Commencement Exercises
Student images to follow
New York City College of Technology (City Tech) marked the annual rite of passage for more than 1,500 graduating students at its 64th Commencement Exercises on Thursday, June 3, in the Theater at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. President Fred W. Beaufait conferred more than 1,500 degrees, including approximately 1,000 associate and 560 baccalaureate.
Delivering the commencement address and receiving an honorary doctorate in humane letters was Peabody and Emmy Award-winning reporter Ti-Hua Chang, who has worked for WNBC News since 1993.
He asked the audience of graduates, their family and friends to ponder what being a “success” in life really means. He added that the definition of success was shaped by his visit to the Dachau concentration camp, where it is estimated that 50,000 people were killed during the Second World War. “The Germans were very ‘successful’ at mass murder,” he remarked. “I learned from Dachau that being good at something is not enough, success is not enough, it is not enough to do well in life; one must do good as well.”
The President’s Award was conferred on Marva Clark Gordon ’69, who was honored for her nearly three decades of leadership in the clinical, administrative and research areas of the nursing profession and for establishing the Dr. Marva L. and Mr. John Gordon Scholarship Fund, demonstrating her strong commitment to future generations of City Tech students.
“It is a great honor, a privilege, and a pleasure to return to my academic roots after 35 years,” she said. “Many of my life-long friendships were nourished and bloomed while I was a student at what is now New York City College of Technology. Yes, I have earned several graduate degrees at other noteworthy institutions of higher education, but there is something very special about returning home.”
She added that it gave her great joy to know that
through the scholarship fund in her name that “many students
will be able to set their goals and reach their dreams without having
to work two or three jobs the way I did in order to pay for tuition.”
The Class of 2004 valedictorian Dianne A. Monrose,
32, fits just that profile. As an undocumented immigrant from Jamaica,
she struggled for six years to save money from her earnings as a
babysitter and nanny in order to attend college.
She emphasized that although she and her fellow graduates have reached the end of a course of study, their education will go on until the end of their days. “As we close this chapter and take our leave of New York City College of Technology, let me share with you words I came across on a poster hanging in the hallways of the MTA where I worked while attending City Tech. ‘Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with quality.’ Let us, likewise, autograph our work with quality.”
In closing, she commented, “We are educated men and women graduating in a time of war and we will bear much responsibility to see that intelligence and reason prevail over brutality and bloodshed.”
Bringing greetings to the graduates from The City University of New York (CUNY) was Otis O. Hill, vice chancellor for student development and enrollment management. The Honorable Kenneth E. Cook brought greetings from the CUNY Board of Trustees. Professor Beverly La Puma (English) was the grand marshal.
In his charge to the graduates, President Beaufait, said: “We both leave City Tech today. You leave for the next stage in your life and I leave for the next stage in mine. This is the last commencement before my retirement as president of City Tech. I treasure my City Tech experiences and am very pleased that I will be leaving the institution in the extremely capable hands of Dr. Russell Hotzler, my successor.”
| Click on image for larger version: | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Photos by Al Vargas, Llavell Finerson and Thornton Studios
