GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Former United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will speak May 18 at Gettysburg College's 173rd Commencement.
The 11 a.m. ceremony will take place on the north side of Pennsylvania Hall. O'Connor will receive an honorary degree from Gettysburg College, as will Rev. Dr. Rudolph Featherstone, who became the college's first African-American graduate in 1956, and Dr. Paul Muchinsky, a 1969 Gettysburg College graduate and psychologist. Paul Roedel, parent of a 1986 Gettysburg College graduate, will receive the Lavern H. Brenneman Award for Exemplary Volunteer Service, which was established to honor the 1936 graduate. Nicole Puza, a senior majoring in biology from Stamford, Conn., will deliver the Senior Address.
O'Connor was the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Growing up on a cattle ranch in southeastern Arizona and then in Texas, she attended Stanford University where she majored in economics and graduated magna cum laude in 1950. O'Connor completed her law degree in only two years at Stanford Law School, where she was appointed to the legal honor society Order of the Coif and served on the editorial board of the Stanford Law Review. In 1952, O'Connor was offered only one job - and it was as a legal secretary rather than as an attorney. She turned to the public sector and began her career as deputy county attorney in San Mateo, Calif., and then as assistant attorney general in Arizona. She was an Arizona state senator for six years, including a term as senate majority leader, the first woman to hold such a position in the U.S.
In 1975, O'Connor was elected judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix and then appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated her to the Supreme Court, where she served until her retirement in 2006. Her record on the court reflects an effort to keep decisions narrowly focused, not making sweeping changes to the law. She was seen as centrist and cast the deciding vote in several important cases related to abortion rights and discrimination. Since her retirement, O'Connor has worked to promote an independent judiciary. She has also become chancellor of the College of William and Mary and received honorary degrees from Yale University and Elon University.
Featherstone has spent his life advocating justice for all people and serving as a visionary leader in the Lutheran ministry. He touched thousands of lives as a well-known and respected lecturer, author, theologian and churchman. He has written and lectured in the U.S. and internationally on Lutheran heritage and issues of social justice. He served parishes in New York, Detroit and Jamaica, where his ties with the local African-American churches strengthened relations with the African-American Lutheran community. Featherstone also served in the campus ministry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a mentor for students of color. He recently retired as a professor of cross-cultural theological studies and mission at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. Featherstone received his bachelor's degree majoring in history from Gettysburg College in 1956 and graduated from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg in 1960 and Harvard Divinity School in 1972.
A prominent industrial and organizational psychologist, Muchinsky is the Joseph M. Bryan Distinguished Professor of Business at the University of North Carolina. He was appointed by North Carolina Governor James Hunt to serve on the Commission on Workforce Preparedness, whose mandate was to improve the competitiveness of North Carolina businesses and enhance economic development. He has written more than 100 journal articles and book chapters as well as "Psychology Applied to Work," the most widely read textbook in the discipline. Muchinsky has been granted fellowship status in four divisions of the American Psychological Association for his meritorious contributions to the profession. In 1998, he received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Gettysburg College and in 2004, he was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Contributions Award by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Muchinsky received his bachelor's degree majoring in psychology from Gettysburg College in 1969, master's in psychology from Kansas State University in 1970 and doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from Purdue University in 1973. He credits former Gettysburg College psychology professor Samuel Mudd as a life-long mentor. Muchinsky is also an enthusiastic amateur scholar of baseball and author of "Baseball Pinback Buttons," which was accepted into the registry of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Roedel's loyalty and support for Gettysburg College has continued long past his daughter's graduation more than two decades ago. He served 12 years on the Board of Trustees (1987-1999), including five years as chairman and oversaw the Commission on the Future, a group that laid the groundwork for the $100-million campaign "The Unfinished Work," which was completed in 2004. Roedel was also involved in the leadership committee for "The Campaign for Gettysburg," Parents Advisory Board and National Major Gifts Committee. He was named Trustee Emeritus in 2000. Roedel is the treasurer of the Berks Business and Education Coalition and the Wyomissing Foundation. He started as an accountant at Carpenter Technology Corp., a specialty metals and structural ceramics company, and rose to chairman and CEO in 1987, retiring in 1992. He has served on numerous non-profit and social service organizations in the Reading-Wyomissing area.
Puza is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honors society, Women's Center Associate Board, Equestrian Team, Pre-Veterinary club, Biosphere and Gettysburg College-Community Orchestra. She is also a swing dance choreographer and instructor in the dance ensemble. While at Gettysburg, Puza volunteered at the East Coast Exotic Animal Rescue and was a student teaching assistant for the biology department. She was awarded a Mellon Grant for student-faculty summer research in 2006 and her independent research took her to Nicaragua where she analyzed DNA of tropical marine snails. Puza has also worked as a technician's assistant at Emmitsburg Veterinary Hospital. After graduation, she will attend the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine.
Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with approximately 2,600 students. It is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1832.
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