Commencement Speaker
Dr. Mary McAleese
Honorary Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa
Dr. Mary McAleese is a lawyer, academic, author, and most notably, former President of Ireland. Serving from 1997 to 2011, McAleese was the first President to come from Northern Ireland. Born in Belfast, she experienced firsthand the violence of The Troubles. The theme of her presidency was “Building Bridges”, and her work for peace-building and reconciliation with Northern Ireland culminated in the historic state visit by Queen Elizabeth II. Following her Presidency, McAleese pursued a doctorate in canon law from Gregorian University Rome. She also has her master’s degree in canon law from National University of Ireland. McAleese’s current appointments include Chairperson of the European Union High Level Group on the Modernisation of Higher Education and Patron of Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology in Cambridge, England, which promotes education and formation of lay Catholics, particularly women, for Christian discipleship and ministry. McAleese is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women Presidents and Prime Ministers, whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the American Ireland Humanitarian Award and the Tipperary Peace Prize. This is the second visit to Saint Mary’s College for McAleese; she spoke at an event sponsored by the Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership in 2015.
Honorary Degree Recipients
Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters
Helen Prejean, a Sister of St. Joseph, is internationally recognized for her tireless work against the death penalty. She is known for her best-selling book, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States, which was based on her experiences with two convicts on death row. Prejean ministered as their spiritual advisor prior to their executions. Her book ignited a national debate on capital punishment and spawned an Academy Award-winning movie, a play, and an opera. A graphic adaptation of Dead Man Walking will be released later this year. Prejean has been instrumental in shaping the Catholic Church’s vigorous opposition to all executions. She met with Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis, and as a result, both pontiffs strengthened the Church’s Catechism in opposition to the death penalty. Prejean continues her work in this area—dividing her time between educating the public, counseling individual death row prisoners, and working with murder victims’ family members. In recognition of her commitment to social justice and the culture of life, she has received many honorary degrees and awards throughout her lifetime, and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Sylvia Acevedo
Honorary Doctor of Science
Sylvia Acevedo is a transformative leader, entrepreneur, and visionary strategist whose career started as a rocket scientist at NASA, a tech executive at IBM, Apple, and Dell, then as a White House Commissioner for early childhood education and leadership. Most recently, she served as chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of the USA from 2016–2020. During her tenure at Girl Scouts, Acevedo led the largest programmatic expansion in over a century, launching 146 new badges in STEM, Entrepreneurship, Civics, and the Outdoors—fueling over one million STEM badge achievements. She currently serves on the boards at Qualcomm and Credo Technologies. Her impact has been recognized globally, including Forbes’ Top 50 Women in Tech and Bloomberg’s Top 100 Influential Latinos. Acevedo earned her BA with honors in Industrial Engineering from New Mexico State University, and broke barriers as one of the first Hispanics—male or female—to earn a master’s in engineering from Stanford University. She is the author of Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist, her memoir for middle schoolers, and The Trailblazer’s Playbook, which will be released this fall. She frequently speaks about education, STEM, cybersecurity, demographic trends, and leadership, and continues to shape industries, develop leaders, and champion future generations of trailblazers.