New Haven Mayor Toni Harp and CT Homeland Security Deputy Chief Featured Speakers at University of New Haven Commencement Ceremonies

The University of New Haven will award nearly 1,400 degrees on Wednesday, May 22.

May 7, 2019

The University of New Haven today announced that New Haven Mayor Toni N. Harp and Regina Rush-Kittle, deputy commissioner of the State of Connecticut’s Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, will be featured speakers at its Commencement exercises on Wednesday, May 22, at the Toyota Presents Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford.

As part of the ceremonies, the University will award nearly 1,400 undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Harp, the 50th mayor of the City of New Haven, will deliver the Commencement address during the morning ceremony, beginning at 10 a.m., where degrees will be awarded to candidates of the University’s College of Arts and Sciences, Tagliatela College of Engineering, and School of Health Sciences.

The first African American woman to serve as mayor of the Elm City, Harp was reelected to her third two-year term in 2017. She previously served 11 terms in the Connecticut State Senate, where she was deputy president pro tempore and co-chair of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee. She also served five years as the alderwoman for the Second Ward in New Haven.

Rush-Kittle, the first African American woman in the Connecticut State Police to serve as a sergeant, lieutenant, major, and commanding officer of a barracks, will deliver the Commencement address at the afternoon ceremony during which degrees will be awarded to candidates of the University’s College of Business and the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences. Rush-Kittle is a graduate of the Homeland Security Leadership Academy, the FBI National Academy, and the U.S. Army Command Sergeants Major Academy.

Honorary degrees will be awarded to Michael H. Ambrose ’84, vice president of engineering and technology at Sikorsky Aircraft, a Lockheed Martin company; Roger J. Cooper, a former international banking executive; and Michael W. Toner ’82 EMBA, former executive vice president of marine systems for General Dynamics. Both Ambrose and Cooper are members of the University’s Board of Governors.