C.W. Post to Graduate 100,000th Student at Commencement Exercises on May 11

Brookville, N.Y. -- The alumni odometer will turn over for the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University as the 100,000th student graduates on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 11, 2008. This will be the 50th commencement for the Campus, which was established in 1954.

The landmark alumnae, Kevin Wilson, a resident of Selden, N.Y., earned a Master of Public Administration degree in Health Care Administration from the College of Management in January 2008 and will walk at commencement exercises next month. The annual ceremony includes all C.W. Post students who were conferred degrees in September 2007, January 2008 and May 2008.

Wilson, who received word of his place in the C.W. Post record books on April 1, thought he was the victim of an elaborate April fool’s joke. But as calls from campus officials continued to come in over the next few days, he realized he was the target of history, not a hoax.

“I was in a state of shock. It’s such an honor,” he said.

Wilson is a dialysis social worker/supervisor at Central Suffolk Artificial Kidney Center in Port Jefferson, N.Y. where he provides ongoing support to patients and their families. He is married with two young children, holds a second master’s degree in social work from Fordham University and is an adjunct professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. He hopes to either become a full-time professor or a nursing home administrator. He has begun applying to Ph.D. programs in social work.

“This is an incredible milestone for our Campus,” said Joseph Shenker, provost of C.W. Post. “We are very proud of the accomplishments of our alumni and Kevin Wilson epitomizes the compelling drive and ambition that so many of our graduates embrace.”

At the ceremony, Wilson will wear a sash that says “C.W. Post 100,000th Graduate” and will be recognized by Provost Shenker.

Long Island University president David J. Steinberg will confer more than 2,500 bachelor’s, master’s and certificates at this year’s ceremony, bringing the total of degrees conferred at C.W. Post to more than 102,500. Campus officials estimate that C.W. Post’s 100,000 students read more than seven million textbooks and were taught nearly 4.3 million courses by hundreds of faculty members over the course of 18,250 days.

C.W. Post’s first graduates from 1958 consisted of seven men and one women, all of whom were transfers to what was then called C.W. Post College of Long Island University. The first commencement was held on a grassy plain at the foot of the Campus' famed rose arbor on June 7, 1958. The 2008 Commencement exercises will take place on the Great Lawn beginning at 9:30 a.m. The Class of 2008 includes two associate’s degrees, 1,022 baccalaureate degree candidates, 1,434 master’s degree candidates, 15 graduates receiving the Psy.D. in clinical psychology and four receiving the Ph.D. in information studies.

Posted: April 8, 2008