Student Government President to Deliver Commencement Speech, May 16.
Doctor who provides care for poor in Haiti to Receive Honorary Degree

Graduation weekend at Caldwell College will culminate Sunday May 16, 2010 at 11 a.m. with the commencement address by Caldwell College Student Government president and graduating senior Ryan Gleason of Franklin, New Jersey. An honorary degree will be presented to a New Jersey doctor who cares for the poor in Haiti.

Caldwell College President Nancy H. Blattner, Ph.D. will confer degrees on the Caldwell College Class of 2010 in the Newman Center on campus. The president will present undergraduates with their Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees. Those receiving degrees include full-time traditional, adult undergraduate and graduate students. Students enrolled in graduate studies will receive either their Master of Arts or Master of Business Administration degrees.

The college will present an honorary degree to Dr. James Morgan an internist with a practice in Cedar Grove. He 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.

When the devastating earthquake hit on January 12 this year, Dr. Morgan rushed to Haiti to attend to acute wounds, crushed limbs, chronic diseases, infectious problems and much, much more. Up against many obstacles, some of which included very little shelter, water, or food, he and his team persisted because they had hope. They shared that hope immediately with the people of Haiti, and they continue to share that hope through the Foundation.

The Lamp Foundation’s mission is to work together with Haitians, to advocate for the respect and protection of basic human rights in the areas of greatest misery and poverty in the capital city of Port-Au-Prince. Lamp provides basic health care, investigates allegations of human rights abuses, and provides educational and humanitarian aid. The clinic provides medical care free of charge to the poor in Cite Soleil, Pele, San Fil, and Jeremy. Closer to home, Dr. Morgan provides medical care for the residents of St. Catherine’s Convent and Health Center in Caldwell, NJ.