John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, to Deliver Commencement Address

Chief Justice and three others to receive honorary degrees May 25

WORCESTER, Mass. – John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, will receive an honorary degree from the College of the Holy Cross and address this year’s graduates during the Commencement ceremony on Friday, May 25 at 10:30 a.m. on the campus.

Nominated by President George W. Bush, Chief Justice Roberts took his seat on the Supreme Court on September 29, 2005. Prior to joining the Supreme Court as the 17th Chief Justice, he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Born in Buffalo, N.Y., he received an A.B. from Harvard College in 1976 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979. He served as a law clerk for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1979 to 1980 and as a law clerk for then-Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist of the Supreme Court of the United States during the 1980 Term. He was Special Assistant to the Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice from 1981 to 1982, Associate Counsel to President Ronald Reagan, White House Counsel’s Office from 1982 to 1986, and Principal Deputy Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice from 1989 to 1993. From 1986 to 1989 and 1993 to 2003, he practiced law in Washington, D.C.

Chief Justice Roberts is married to Jane Sullivan Roberts, a 1976 graduate of Holy Cross and current member of the College’s Board of Trustees. They have two children, Josephine and John.

The College will also bestow three other honorary degrees to the following individuals at Commencement:

Brendan J. Cassin Class of 1955 Chairman and president of the Cassin Educational Initiative Foundation (which he founded in 2000), Mr. Cassin is also chairman of the board of both the Cristo Rey Network and the Nativity Miguel Network. Through these organizations, he helps establish private, Catholic college-preparatory middle schools and high schools in urban, economically challenged areas across the United States. In 2002, Mr. Cassin’s $1 million grant to Holy Cross has helped the College in recruiting students of color and increasing diversity on campus. He also helped found the Nativity School of Worcester, which last year graduated its first 8th grade class and where many Holy Cross students volunteer and teach. Following graduation from Holy Cross, he spent five years in the U. S. Marine Corps, and then worked in sales, sales management, and marketing. In 1969, Mr. Cassin co-founded Xidex Corporation, which achieved Fortune 500 status in 1987 with sales of $752 million and 7,000 employees worldwide. He left active management with Xidex in 1979, and became a venture capital investor. He is a founding investor in a number of technology companies, and is a financial founder of many public companies.

Sr. Dr. Duggan Sr. Duggan is Congregational Leader, Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Africa, based in Dublin, and has spent 30 years as a missionary. In 1987, she was superintendent of the Kampala hospital in Uganda when the first cases of AIDS were diagnosed, and she took on an activist role in the fight against the disease. A gynecologist, she developed an educational program aimed at changing behaviors — work that has been credited in the decline in the rate of AIDS deaths and that has been introduced in 11 other African countries. She has recently begun a new program called “Youth Alive” Clubs — positive peer groups offering sports, musical festivals and drama as well as ongoing support and education for young people making positive life choices.

Annette Rafferty In 1976, Ms. Rafferty founded the Abby Kelley Foster House, better known as Abby’s House, an emergency shelter for battered women and their children in Worcester. Today it is one of the most respected multiservice agencies in the city and the state of Massachusetts. In addition to the emergency shelter, Abby’s House currently provides 78 units of service-enriched low income housing at three locations. It also operates a thrift shop, a women’s day center, and offers counseling and referrals. Holy Cross has had a long relationship with Ms. Rafferty and Abby’s House: Holy Cross students have staffed the shelter since the night it opened, and College employees have contributed both financially and with volunteer hours to its operation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Ellen Ryder Director of Public Affairs 508-793-2419 eryder@holycross.edu