The 11th annual commencement exercise was conducted this past weekend at the National Labor College’s campus in Silver Spring, MD where the NLC conferred 102 bachelor’s degrees in labor studies disciplines. Twenty six of the graduates were SMWIA members. Two Masters in Public Administration degrees were also awarded as part of the University of Baltimore’s graduate partnership with the NLC.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis addressed the graduates and was given an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree. Joining Solis were AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer and NLC Treasurer of the NLC Board of Trustees, Richard L. Trumka and NLC President William E. Scheuerman. Trumka gave credit to Solis for advancing the cause of working people immediately upon taking office.
“Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is a champion of labor justice who, in just a few months of taking office, has already begun to restore our nation’s programs to protect workers,” said Trumka.
NLC president William E. Scheuerman presided over today’s commencement and urged the graduates to understand the gravity and responsibility their degrees confer.
“Ours is a college dedicated to service: to our members, to our communities, to our brother and sister workers both here in the U.S. and around the globe,” said Scheuerman. “Having built our movement through the sacrifices of others you must help to make it possible for others to gain the benefit of union membership.”
The National Labor College is now the nation's only accredited higher education institution devoted exclusively to educating union leaders, members and activists. The NLC became a degree granting college in 1997. The college is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, an independent, regional accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
List of 2009 SMWIA Graduates
Armando Aguirre
Labor Education
James R. Bagniefski
Labor Education
Gerard M. Callahan
Labor Education
Chris E. Carlough
Political Economy of Labor
John P. Daniel
Labor Education
Anthony (Tony) Ralph Easley
Labor Education
Richard Kevin Flood
Labor Education
N eil A. Furlong
Labor Education
Andrew G. Gilliland
Labor Education
Rodney James Graff
Labor Education
Terry Jon Grimshaw
Labor Education
James H. Hamilton
Labor Education
Michael A. Keane
Labor Education
Michael A. Kelley
Labor Education
Steven D. Korsh
Labor Education
L eah Rambo
Labor Education
James A. Ross
Labor Education
Jeffery S. Rowe
Labor Education
Frederick Joseph Scafidi
Labor Education
Samuel Patrick Schaffer
Labor Education
Thomas P. Schmidt
Labor Education
Anthony Wayne Scott
Labor Studies
Vernon W. Shaffer
Labor Education
Robert Taylor
Labor Education
Ryan Paul VanHook
Labor Safety and Health
William J. Wroblewski
Labor Education