Manhattan College Awards Master’s Degrees At Spring (Graduate) Commencement

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Manhattan College awarded master’s degrees to students in the graduate programs of education and engineering, as well as bachelor’s degrees in organization management to students in the adult degree completion program, at its Spring (Graduate) Commencement on Wednesday, May 24.

During the ceremony, an honorary Doctor of Education degree was presented to Ms. Brigid Higgins, an educator and philanthropist whose “classroom” has been at the bedside of high school students that have battled cancer at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Ronald McDonald House.  Having been diagnosed with cancer in 1989, Ms. Higgins met youngsters fighting the disease while undergoing her own treatment and decided to return to college to get a master’s degree in special education.  She completed her master’s at Manhattan College at the age of 57.

In her speech, Ms. Higgins said, “ My wish for you today is personal lives of fulfillment and joy, lives that give you satisfaction and help you create a life as well as make a living.  And I hope that you will take the education that you received on this campus out into the world, where you will be someone who is unafraid to speak up on behalf of truth and justice.”

Founded in 1853 by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Manhattan College is an independent, Catholic co-educational college in the Lasallian tradition, located in the Riverdale section of Bronx, New York.