Commencement 2008
Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipients
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United States Senator John F. Kerry
The Honorable Mrs. Yu-Foo Yee Shoon
Ms. Kip Tiernan
United States Senator John F. Kerry
Click here to view Senator Kerry's speech.
Sen. Kerry has represented Massachusetts as a United States Senator for more than 23 years and was the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in 2004. During his career, Sen. Kerry has been a passionate advocate for programs and services that advance children and families including Head Start, YouthBuild and other legislative initiatives. In addition to other committee appointments, Sen. Kerry chairs the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and the Hispanic Task Force.
After he graduated from Yale, Sen. Kerry volunteered to serve in Vietnam, because, as he later said, "it was the right thing to do." He believed that “to whom much is given, much is required.” He felt he had an obligation to give something back to his country and served two tours of duty. On his second tour, he volunteered to serve on a Swift Boat in the river deltas, one of the most dangerous assignments of the war. For his leadership, courage, and sacrifice under fire, he was decorated with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts.
When he came home to the United States, Sen. Kerry spoke out against the Vietnam War. When he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and posed the powerful question, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" He also began a lifelong fight for his fellow veterans—joining with other vets to found the Vietnam Veterans of America to fight for veterans’ benefits, for extension of the G.I. Bill for Higher Education and for treatment of PTSD.
Sen. Kerry graduated from Boston College Law School in 1976 and went to work as a top prosecutor in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. During his tenure at the District Attorney’s office, Sen. Kerry nearly tripled the staff, and many of the new hires were women. He launched initiatives that were innovative at the time: special units to prosecute white-collar and organized crime, programs to counsel rape victims and a system for fast-tracking priority cases to trial. He also directed the investigation that led to the first conviction of one of the state's notorious gangsters.
After serving as Lieutenant Governor under Michael Dukakis, Sen. Kerry was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 and has since been reelected three times. Soon after his election, he led an investigation into activities by State Department. Sen. Kerry’s report was a precursor to the exposé of the Iran-Contra affair. During the 1990s, Sen. Kerry consistently backed initiatives on health care, education, minimum wage increases, civil liberties and human rights.
In 1995 Sen. Kerry voted to reauthorize grants to cities and states that fund treatment services for individual with AIDS and their families. Later, He was at the forefront of the fight to provide the largest investment in children’s health care since the creation of Medicaid. His 1996 bill, the “Healthy Children, Family Assistance Health Insurance Program” was the precursor to the successful SCHIP program, which became law in 1997 and provides funding to cover 5 million children. In addition, Sen. Kerry upheld a bill that allowed patients to appeal decisions made by their health plan organization about coverage and treatment in 2001.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Sen. Kerrysupported Disaster Relief Medicaid (DRM) for storm victims. He said of the American health care system in 2006, “We need big ideas and bold solutions, not more of timid Washington tinkering around the edges. If Americans can discover cures for the most devastating illnesses, we can surely find a way to make sure that all Americans benefit from those cures.”
On issues of civil rights, Sen. Kerry has supported extending the federal protections provided under the Civil Rights Act to sexual orientation, affording gays and lesbians having the same rights to adopt children as heterosexuals and extending the Family Medical Leave Act to same-sex couples. In 2002 he voted to allow the Federal government assistance State for the prosecution of hate crimes. In addition he supported the repeal of the military’s “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, which would allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly in the military.
Throughout his career, Sen. Kerry has championed the protection and education of children nation-wide. He has fought for increases in Head Start and introduced the “Kids First Act,” an initiative to provide health care coverage to 11 million American children. Moreover, Sen. Kerry has called on the Federal government to allocate $100M for YouthBuild USA, a national program that emphasizes service and leadership development, offering low-income youth education and job training. He succeeded in including "Masha's Law" in the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act, which was signed into law in 2006. Sen. Kerry was inspired to write the law after hearing the child abuse story of Masha Allen. Sen. Kerry and Allen unveiled the legislation together at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. In 2007 he introduced the “Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness Act,” an initiative to give more support to foster families, foster children, and young adults transitioning from the foster care system into adulthood.
Sen. Kerry was honored on February 28, 2005 with the Kennedy Library Foundation’s Distinguished American Award. The prestigious award recognizes men and women who have played significant roles in American public affairs who have honored President Kennedy’s legacy of public and community service.
In addition to the support of children and families, Sen. Kerry’s political bulwarks include the advancement of small businesses, medical assistance for war veterans, fair labor practices and environmental protection.
The Honorable Mrs. Yu-Foo Yee Shoon
Mrs. Yu-Foo is the Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports
in Singapore. She has been an outspoken advocate for the development of high-quality,
universal early education services for children in Singapore.
Mrs. Yu-Foo became the first woman in Singapore to hold the post of mayor when she was appointed as the Mayor of the Bukit Timah district in 2001. She also headed the Southwest Community Development Council and was a trade union leader with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) for almost three decades. While at NTUC she played a significant part in championing the cause of workers. She was also a founder of NTUC Childcare and NTUC Foodfare.
The well-being of women and children are at the forefront of Mrs. Yu-Foo’s agenda. She delivered reports on the status of women in her country in Singapore’s first-ever presentation to a United Nations treaty in 2001. Mrs. Yu-Foo has advocated for increased education and financial independence of women, public assistance expansion, community development and domestic violence awareness. In addition, Mrs. Yu-Foo has lobbied for children’s cultural programs, youth volunteerism and globalization of the Singaporean school curriculum.
Mrs. Yu-Foo’s other appointments include chairman of the Public Education Committee on Family (2001) and member of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Ageing Population and chairman of the IMC Workgroup on Health Care (1998–1999).
For her exemplary contribution to the labor movement, she was conferred the Rochdale Medal by the Singapore National Co-operative Federation in 1997. In addition, Mrs. Yu-Foo was honored as the Singapore Woman of the Year in 1995.
In addition to her advocacy for children and families, Mrs.Yu-Foo has supported recycling program, the development of public parks, athletic programs and health education.
Ms. Kip Tiernan
At the center of the fight for economic and social justice in Massachusetts,
Ms. Tiernan has lobbied for affordable and accessible housing, health care
and education for more than three decades. In 2005 she was jointly nominated
along with 1,000 women for the Nobel Prize for Peace. The nomination was part
of an effort to make women’s roles as peace builders more visible, recognized
and supported.
Ms. Tiernan was born in West Haven, Conn., where she was raised by her grandmother. After moving to Boston, she worked in public relations and advertising before devoting herself to the anti-war, civil rights and anti-poverty work that centered around St. Phillip’s and Warwick House, a Boston-based Catholic civil rights and anti-war movement ministry in the South End. Her work took her into housing projects, jails and hospitals where she saw the needs of poor and homeless people.
Ms. Tiernan is best known for founding the first drop-in and emergency shelter for women in the United States. After witnessing a number of women in Boston trying to pass as men to get meals in male-only shelters, she established Rosie's Place on Easter Sunday in 1974 as a sanctuary for poor and homeless women with $250 donated from friends. Ms. Tiernan and four other volunteers named the shelter Rosie’s Place because it held no connotations and sounded like it could be a women’s coffeehouse or favorite aunt’s kitchen. In subsequent years, its focus shifted from overnight sheltering and feeding to providing the services needed to help women “dig themselves out of untenable situations.”
Ms. Tiernan’s vision has helped Rosie’s Place evolve from simply providing shelter and nourishment to offering solutions that empower disenfranchised women. Rosie’s Place provides clothing, medical services, educational and employment opportunities, legal advice, transportation and emergency funds for eviction prevention and prescriptions. Advocates also work with women to secure permanent and safe homes.
Ms. Tiernan’s legacy also includes her role as a founder of the Greater Boston Food Bank and co-founder of the Boston Women’s Fund, Health Care for the Homeless and Community Works. In 1990 she established the Ethical Policy Institute, a multi-disciplinary community of people engaged in political analysis, economics and community activism. In 1980 she co-founded the Poor People’s United Fund, a funding source for grassroots community groups involved in issues of homelessness. A vibrant public speaker and social commentator, Ms. Tiernan has lectured at hundreds of high schools, colleges, churches and conferences and written articles in local and national publications.
