7 Natick Residents Receive Degrees From Clark University

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WORCESTER – Clark University awarded 577 bachelor’s, 489 master’s, and 25 doctoral degrees, and conferred four honorary degrees during the University’s 118th Commencement exercises on Sunday, May 22.

Graduates were urged to always ask questions, move forward with confidence, and have the moral clarity to make courageous and meaningful decisions.

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Among the graduates were:

• Weilun Dai, of Natick, graduated with a Master of Science in Information Technologies.

• Benjamin P. Krueger, of Natick, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in environmental science.

• Sho Kinugawa, of Natick, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in management.

• Mengliu Lu, of Natick, graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors in Interactive Media.

• Stephen Carlo Natola, of Natick, graduated with a Master of Arts in Community Development and Planning.

• Emily Abbott, of Natick, graduated with a Master of Business Administration.

• Eunice Dollete, of Natick, graduated with a Master of Public Administration.

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President David B. Fithian, who received his degree from Clark in 1987 and is the first alumnus to lead the university, implored the graduates to always be curious.

“You came to Clark looking for answers – about subjects that interest you, about yourself, and about the world – and I hope you found some,” he said. “But as you leave here, I hope Clark has helped you to ask more, different, and better questions. Every question is a chance to hear something you may never have heard before. This iterative process of questions and answers is crucial to your lifelong journey of learning and will enrich your life at every stage along that path.”

Mary Frances Berry, a renowned scholar, civil rights activist, and the Geraldine R. Segal Professor Emerita of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania, delivered the commencement address. Berry told the graduates that they have a moral obligation to contribute to society.

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politick, nor popular, but you must take it because it is right,” she insisted.

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In addition to Berry, honorary degrees were granted to David P. Angel, who led Clark as its ninth president (2010 to 2020) and whose academic and administrative career at the University spanned 33 years; Annette Gordon-Reed, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University whose Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Hemingses of Monticello” forced a reconsideration of accepted historical narratives; and Doug Wright, the playwright, librettist, and screenwriter whose works include “I Am My Own Wife,” which won the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize.

Founded in 1887, Clark University is a liberal arts-based research university that prepares its students to meet tomorrow’s most daunting challenges and embrace its greatest opportunities. Through 33 undergraduate majors, more than 30 advanced degree programs, and nationally recognized community partnerships, Clark fuses rigorous scholarship with authentic world and workplace experiences that empower our students to pursue lives and careers of meaning and consequence.

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Photo supplied to SOURCE by Clark University, who submitted the press release.