Dr. James Morgan, who has a practice in Cedar Grove, was awarded an Honorary Degree for his work with the poor in Haiti.

Student Government President Ryan Gleason was the Commencement Speaker.

Student Government President Urges Caldwell College Graduates to Nurture a Spirit of Community

New Jersey Doctor Who Cares for Poor in Haiti Receives Honorary Degree

Caldwell College president Nancy H. Blattner, Ph.D., awarded degrees Sunday, May 16 to 400 students which included 285 undergraduates and 115 graduate students.

The Commencement address was given by Caldwell College Student Government president and graduating senior Ryan Gleason. A History and English major, Gleason is from Franklin in Sussex County, New Jersey

As Caldwell College is a Catholic Dominican College, Gleason noted that one of the four pillars of Dominican life is community. He spoke about the responsibility the new graduates have to their communities and to the people they meet once they leave their college. “Our responsibility lies in creating, building, supporting and growing communities wherever we go. One of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut, once wrote, ‘what should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.’” He encouraged the graduates that whatever field or professions they choose that they celebrate their achievements and they become “a friend, a mentor, a pillar of strength and knowledge for people.” And he told them that “the best way to make a better world and to make a difference in the lives of the people we meet is to accept and nurture a spirit of community in our actions and in our own lives.”

An honorary degree was presented to a New Jersey doctor James Morgan, M.D., who cares for the poor in Haiti. Morgan, who is an internist with a practice in Cedar Grove, has been caring for the poor in Haiti for several years and in the aftermath of the earthquake. He and a colleague founded Lamp for Haiti in 2006, which operates a medical clinic in Cite Soleil, a region near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. Lamp provides basic health care, investigates allegations of human rights abuses, and provides educational and humanitarian aid.