Real Estate Developer Jorge M. Perez, Pulitzer Prize Winner John F. Burns
and Retiring C.W. Post Provost Joseph Shenker to
Receive Honorary Degrees

Brookville, N.Y. -- Milestones will mingle with established and perhaps even new traditions on Mother's Day, Sunday May 11, 2008 as the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University celebrates its 50th commencement ceremony. The always poignant event will honor C.W. Post's 100,000th graduate and the final graduating students from Long Island University 's Southampton College, as well as, for the first time in school history, a pair of Salutatorians. More than 2,500 students will be conferred degrees on the Great Lawn by Long Island University President David J. Steinberg.

Jorge M. Pérez, named one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in the United States by TIME magazine, will deliver the keynote address. The 1972 graduate of C.W. Post also will be awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Considered America 's leading developer of sophisticated metropolitan living, Pérez is chairman and chief executive officer of The Related Group, the largest Hispanic-owned business in the U.S. and the country's largest multi-family real estate development firm.

As part of the main ceremony, honorary doctorates in humane letters also will be awarded to Pulitzer Prize winner John F. Burns, the longest-serving New York Times foreign correspondent and the newspaper's London Bureau Chief, and Joseph Shenker, Ed.D. the well-respected provost of the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University who is retiring this summer.

Burns has traveled the globe on assignment for more than three decades, covering stories that have changed the course of world history. He has witnessed China's Cultural Revolution; the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina; the chaos in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Soviet troops; the rise and fall of the Taliban government; and the war in Iraq, and has provided readers with vivid, firsthand accounts of these and other significant world events. Repeatedly recognized for his work, Burns is the recipient of many honors including two Pulitzer Prizes, one in 1993 for his coverage of the siege of Sarajevo and one in 1997 for his articles on the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan .

Joseph Shenker has led C.W. Post through an unprecedented period of growth and prosperity punctuated by enrollment increases, building expansions and new academic programs. During his tenure as provost, average undergraduate enrollment at C.W. Post has grown from 4,450 to 5,400, and the size of the freshman class has increased by 62 percent. His years of service have seen the establishment of numerous scholarships, the acquisition of prestigious accreditations, the formation of partnerships with community colleges and the forging of relationships with a large network of corporations and organizations that employ C.W. Post graduates. In addition to his supervisory duties at C.W. Post, Dr. Shenker has had oversight responsibility for the Rockland Graduate Campus and the Brentwood Campus. In 2005, he was appointed provost of Long Island University 's newest site, located on the Suffolk Community College Campus in Riverhead.

Commencement exercises will take place on the Great Lawn at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, N.Y. 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. C.W. Post's commencement ceremonies also include graduates from Southampton College, Southampton Graduate Campus and Long Island University at Riverhead.

For more information call the C.W. Post Commencement Hotline at 516-299-3242 or visit www.liu.edu/cwpcommencement

Posted: May 1, 2008