Internet Anthropologist and Former U.S. News & World Report Editor Lee Rainie
to Deliver Keynote Address at C.W. Post Commencement May 10

Lee Rainie

Brookville, N.Y. -- Most of the 2,600 students graduating from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University understand how to use the Internet. What they might not be aware of is the effect the Internet has on them. Lee Rainie has been studying the relationship between people and pixels for the last several years. A leader in the sociological impact of the Internet, he will address what is undoubtedly the most technologically literate graduating class in C.W. Post's history when the campus holds its 51st commencement exercises on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 10, 2009 on the Great Lawn.

Rainie, a cultural anthropologist for the 21st century who is the founding director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters and will deliver the keynote address.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project is a non-profit, non-partisan “fact tank” that studies the social impact of the Internet. The Project has issued more than 200 reports based on its surveys that examine people’s online activities and the Internet’s role in their lives. Rainie, who earned an M.A. in political science from C.W. Post in 1977, is a co-author of “Up for Grabs,” “Hopes and Fears,” and the forthcoming “Ubiquity, Mobility, Security,” a series of books about the future of the Internet published by Cambria Press and based on Project surveys. He is also co-authoring a book for MIT Press about the social impact of technology with sociologist Barry Wellman that will be published in 2010. Prior to launching the Pew Internet Project, Rainie was managing editor of U.S. News & World Report.

As part of the main ceremony, Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters also will be awarded to Congressman Gary Ackerman, who represents the Fifth Congressional District of New York, and Richard P. Goodwin, the former mayor of the Village of Brookville.

Other commencement highlights:

Richard P. Auletta

Neo Cleopa

FACULTY REACH 40-AND 50-YEAR MILESTONES: Five members of the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University will be honored for 40 years of service. They are Assistant Professor of Foreign Languages, Richard P. Auletta ’63; Neo Cleopa, chair of the Mathematics Department; Jacqueline Elsas ’66, assistant dean of reference services for the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library; Conrad Schoeffling ’71 (M.S.), ’77 (M.A.), head of special collections and archives at the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library; and Jerome Tognoli, Ph.D., professor psychology. Lawrence Rocks, professor of chemistry, is the first C.W. Post faculty member to reach 50 years of full-time consecutive service. He began his career at C.W. Post on September 1, 1958.

TEACHER OF THE YEAR: The Nassau County Secondary School Teacher of the Year Award, which recognizes exemplary teaching, will be awarded to Andrea Battle-Brown , a social studies teacher at Uniondale High School. An educator for 35 years, she has dedicated her career to demonstrating to young people the importance of social responsibility and community outreach.

VALEDICTORIAN: Kaitlyn McKenna of Deer Park, N.Y., a straight-A student with two majors who aspires to a career in international relations, is valedictorian of the Class of 2009. McKenna is known for tackling big projects. Inspired by a summer abroad, she examined one of the most puzzling and troublesome situations in world politics for her college honors thesis: “North Korean Political Affairs as Impacted by Culture, History and Ideological Propaganda.” She was only a freshman when she spent a semester studying in South Korea. As a sophomore, she interned with Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur D. Spatt. She is currently a paid member of Glen Cove Mayor Ralph Suozzi's staff. She majored in both philosophy and political science in the C.W. Post College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and will enter Hofstra Law School in the Fall.

SALUTATORIAN: Shannon Weiss of Seabrook Island, S.C., a film major and award-winning film producer, is the salutatorian of the Class of 2009. Weiss has a grade point average of 3.98, has been a resident assistant and is active in the Film Department at C.W. Post. A member of the Honors Program, she spent the summer of 2007 studying filmmaking in Australia, and said the experience enhanced her course work in the C.W. Post School of Visual and Performing Arts. Weiss is the producer and director of “The Long Way Home,” which won the award for Best Editing of a Short Film at the Long Island International Film Expo in 2008.

Grace Monahan

Father Ted Brown

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARDS: In recognition of their highly successful careers, James F. Flanagan ’82 of Lloyd Harbor, N.Y., a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and Grace Monahan ’78 of Glen Head, N.Y., vice president and chief information officer for North America at Henry Schein, Inc., will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award.

CHANCELLOR’S AWARD: Commencement 2009 will include the presentation of the Long Island University Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service. This award recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to campuses of Long Island University. This highly-coveted honor will be presented to Father Ted Brown, the Campus’ Catholic chaplain and director of religious life.

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. on Sunday, May 10. The Class of 2009 includes 1,015 baccalaureate degree candidates, 1,254 master's degree candidates, 10 graduates receiving the Psy.D. in clinical psychology and four receiving the Ph.D. in information studies. In addition, 341 graduate students will receive the Certificate of Advanced Study. C.W. Post’s commencement ceremonies also include graduates from the Brentwood 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

The C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, located in Brookville, New York, enrolls 8,700 students in more than 255 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in accountancy, business, education, liberal arts and sciences, information and computer science, health professions and nursing, public service, and visual and performing arts. C.W. Post also offers doctorates in information studies, clinical psychology and interdisciplinary educational studies as well as an extensive continuing education program. C.W. Post is part of Long Island University, one of the largest and most comprehensive private universities in the United States.

Posted: April 8, 2009