Commencement 2016 (audio)

Reflections on the value of a college degree or masters these days

a stream that feeds into a larger stream within the Franklin Town Forest

The Storify that The Worcester Telegram and Gazette put together for the Assumption College commencement on Saturday

Assumption College: Message from President Francesco Cesareo

As an Assumption grad and a civilian journalist, inaccuracy in reporting is always a concern.

ASSUMPTION COLLEGE Dear members of the Assumption College family,    You may have read articles this week in the Boston Business Journal (BBJ) and Worcester Business Journal (WBJ) that paint a negative portrayal of Assumption College's enrollment and financial standing. We believe that both articles depict the College in a misleading fashion. The BBJ reporter did not discuss the College's status with anyone at Assumption while preparing the original article and only spoke with CFO Chris McCarthy and Director of Finance Peter Wells after the article was published on Thursday and concerns were raised as to its content. We believe the WBJ piece heavily relied on the initial BBJ reporting. I'd like to share with you some important information about Assumption's actual financial and enrollment status. The following data was shared with reporters from both publications, who neglected to include it in their articles, despite our lengthy conversations with them on Thursday, September 26. For the past 37 consecutive years (including fiscal 2013), Assumption has had a balanced budget -- and ended each year with a surplus. In addition, according to Standard & Poor's -- which has assigned its "A-" long-term debt rating to Assumption -- the College has: a solid balance sheet; a mostly liquid endowment of $90 million as of August 30, 2013; relatively low debt. With respect to discrepancies in our enrollment and retention rates, the quality of the students that have been recruited has not declined. In fact, the quality of the entering class has improved significantly over the past several years. The average SAT score (two-parts) is a record 1130, the sixth straight year it has increased. The average GPA is a 3.35, consistent with past years. The retention rate for the most recent year where national comparison data is available is 85.6 percent. This is 10.8 percentage points higher than the national average for four-year private colleges and consistent with the average for Massachusetts private schools (85.8 percent), the highest figure for all states. As always, I thank you for your continued support of Assumption College. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at fcesareo@assumption.edu, or Tim Stanton, vice president for institutional advancement, at tr.stanton@assumption.edu. Dr. Francesco C. Cesareo, Ph.D. President, Assumption College Assumption College, Office of Alumni Relations, 500 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609 508-767-7223, www.assumption.edu

Forward this email ASSUMPTION COLLEGE | 500 Salisbury Street | Worcester | MA | 01609

The Boston Business Journal article can be found here

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/mass_roundup/2013/09/assumption-college-books-operating.html?page=all

The Worcester article can be found here

http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20130927/NEWS01/130929959/1002

Beyond the dream

Carolina Correa is recently from Pawtucket, RI (where I grew up) who spent time at the Boys & Girls Club (although it was just the Boys Club in my days) and is now at Assumption College (my alma mater) and doing very well for herself. She was selected to be Youth of the Year!

Way to go, Carolina!

The video can be viewed here

She is promoting education because "without it you can not achieve your dream!"

Commencement Address - R Nicholas Burns

from the Assumption College, Class of 2008 Commencement on May 17, 2008, the keynote address by R Nicholas Burns former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

Time: 20 minutes, 47 seconds



MP3 File

Valdictorian Address

From the Assumption College Class of 2008 Commencement, the Valdictorian Address by Jeff M Roy.

Time: 13 minutes, 42 seconds



MP3 File

Degrees Conferred - May 17, 2008

From the Assumption College Commencement, the key part of the ceremony where the act of conferring the Bachelor of Arts degrees took place. From the long listing of over 700 graduates, I selected two key names, Allie's and Brad's.

Time: 1 minute, 10 seconds



MP3 File

Assumption College Graduation 5/17/08

Assumption College Graduation 5/17/08, originally uploaded by shersteve.

degree conferred, with all the rights and privileges thereunto appertaining - wonderful sense of pomp and circumstance