Internet Anthropologist Lee Rainie ’77 Cheers a Diverse Class of 2009 at
C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University Commencement

More than 2,200 earn undergraduate and graduate degrees; first 50-year faculty member
honored for service

Brookville, N.Y. – Urging the 2,600 graduates to send their professors thank-you text messages, Internet anthropologist Lee Rainie saluted the Class of 2009 as the most diverse, accomplished and civic-minded ever in his keynote address at the 51st Commencement exercises at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University on Sunday, May 10, 2009.

Rainie, founding director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project and a C.W. Post alumnus, said graduates should “follow your own instincts to reap the advantages of big, diverse networks, because you, college-educated Millenials, are the most racially and socially tolerant cohort in history.”

Thousands of students, families and well-wishes gathered on the Great Lawn at C.W. Post on a sunny, breezy Mother’s Day. C.W. Post's commencement ceremonies also included graduates from the Brentwood Campus and Long Island University at Riverhead.

Kaitlyn Rose McKenna of Deer Park, N.Y., a straight-A student with majors in philosophy and political science who aspires to a career in international relations, is valedictorian of the Class of 2009. As a freshman Honors student, McKenna spent a semester studying in South Korea, and wrote her thesis on “North Korean Political Affairs as Impacted by Culture, History and Ideological Propaganda.” 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.

“While attending C.W. Post, we have learned decision making and critical thinking strategies to assist us both as students, and more significantly, in the rest of our lives,” McKenna said in her valedictory address. “C.W. Post prepared us for professions of every kind. It is our privilege and responsibility to use this knowledge for good.”

Shannon Weiss of Seabrook Island, S.C., a film major and award-winning film producer, is the salutatorian of the Class of 2009. 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. She graduated with a Weiss has a grade point average of 3.98, worked as a resident assistant, managed the Film Department’s equipment room and spent a summer in Australia studying film.

Lawrence Rocks of Stony Brook, N.Y., a professor of chemistry whose writing during the energy crisis of the 1970s anticipated today’s concerns about dependence on imported oil, was honored as the first person to serve on the faculty of C.W. Post for 50 years. Dr. Rocks joined the faculty of C.W. Post on Sept. 1, 1958, just four years after the campus was founded on the former estate of pioneering businesswoman Marjorie Merriweather Post. None of the campus academic buildings had yet been constructed, and Dr. Rocks taught his first classes in a converted barn original to the estate.

“It doesn’t feel like 50 years have gone by,” he said. “I can remember when I started here as if it were just yesterday. It’s been a wonderful experience. There have been ups and downs, but all I can say is God bless the students. They’re what keep you going.”

Five members of the C.W. Post faculty were honored for 40 years of service, including 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 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.

Honorary doctorates were awarded to Rep. Gary Ackerman, who represents the 5th Congressional District of New York, and Richard P. Goodwin, the former mayor of the village of Brookville.

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., received the Distinguished Alumni Award.

The Rev. Ted Brown, the Catholic campus champlain and director of religious life at C.W. Post, received the Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Service, which recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to campuses of Long Island University.

Rainie, the former editor of U.S. News and World Report, struck a chord with the socially networked graduates with “25 Random Things About You,” a take-off on a popular Facebook feature. He said he worried that “frenzied multitasking” makes it hard for the online generation to enjoy “simply being by yourself and thinking quietly for yourself.”

“Still, even as I hope that you cultivate a taste for quiet and contemplation, there is no denying the magic many of you make when you share your digital stories and creations,” he said.

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.

The C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, located in Brookville, New York, enrolls 8,500 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 and clinical psychology 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: May 11, 2009