Antioch University New England Celebrates Commencement May 3

Posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Keene, NH – Of the three hundred and twenty four graduate students completing their degree requirements, two hundred and seventeen master’s and doctoral degree students will attend and be honored during Antioch University New England’s celebratory commencement exercises to be held Sunday morning, May third at the Keene High School auditorium. The ceremony starts promptly at 10 a.m. More than one thousand participants, guests, and graduate school officials will be present as Antioch University New England President David A. Caruso presides over the ceremonies.

Antioch New England is awarding two hundred and eighty six master’s degrees in applied psychology, education, environmental studies, and management; thirty three doctoral (PsyD) degrees in clinical psychology; and five doctoral (PhD) degrees in environmental studies.

This year’s commencement attendees came from thirteen different states: One hundred and nine are from New Hampshire; thirty eight from Vermont; forty two from Massachusetts; eleven from Maine; three each from Connecticut, Colorado and Maryland; two each from New York and Rhode Island; and one each from Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, and Georgia.

Curtis Ogden to be Commencement Speaker
ANE’s commencement speaker will be Curtis Ogden whose address is titled: Three Movements of Change: Why We Should Be All Atwitter. Curtis is a senior associate with the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISI) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as a popular adjunct faculty member in ANE’s Department of Organization & Management where he teaches Change Models.
In his role at IISI, Curtis brings people from diverse community groups and organizations together to help them work in concert to make a needed change. According to O&M chair Polly Chandler, Curtis will be an inspiring speaker because he understands and can connect with people no matter where they are at in their lives. “Through his work and teaching, he empowers people to make the changes they want to make in the world,” says Polly. “He can speak to all of us.”

His clients at IISI have included the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business at Conservation International, the Ford Foundation, the Center for Collaborative Education, the Institute for Civic Leadership, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Curtis brings to his work and teaching his previous experience in education, community building, leadership development and program design, as well as his passion for efforts that support environmental sustainability. He has worked as an independent consultant to a number of civic engagement and nonprofit support initiatives, including the Building Movement Project (currently housed at Demos), Nonprofit Quarterly, and the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. Just prior to joining IISC, Curtis served as the program and knowledge manager at Building Excellent Schools, an organization that provides training and fellowships for aspiring urban charter school founders based in Boston, Massachusetts.

The son of two teachers, Curtis grew up in Flint, Michigan, but also benefited from early experiences living overseas. After college, he returned to Africa to do community and youth development work in Harare, Zimbabwe. He went on to create ImPACT, a youth service learning program based at The Learning Web in Ithaca, New York. In addition to his work at IISC, Curtis is a board member of the New England Grassroots Environment Fund. He has a BA from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School.

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