Albertus Magnus College Announces Plans for 101st Commencement Ceremony

Cindi Bigelow

Cindi Bigelow, third generation President and CEO of family-owned Bigelow Tea — the US market leader in specialty teas — will receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa and deliver the Commencement Address to the Albertus graduates. Before taking the helm in 2005, Cindi spent 20+ years in all areas of the company that her grandmother founded in 1945. Headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, with additional manufacturing plants in Idaho and Kentucky, Bigelow Tea is the number one overall tea brand in the US and maker of “Constant Comment”® tea. The company remains a 100-percent family-owned business and employs 450 people producing over two billion tea bags annually. Bigelow holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College, an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, and Honorary Doctorates from Johnson & Wales University, the University of New Haven, and Fairfield University, as well as an Honorary Associate Degree from Housatonic Community College. With a major focus on sustainability, Cindi champions these practices throughout the organization with Bigelow becoming a Certified B Corporation in 2019; a Green-e® Certified company in 2020, and a “Zero Waste to Landfill” company in 2012 with recertification in 2022. Bigelow Tea is also proud of its recent certification by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), which confirms Bigelow Tea is a woman-owned and operated small business in the US.

Sr. Mary Grace Walsh

Sr. Mary Grace Walsh '80, ASCJ, Ph.D., Albertus Magnus College Alumna with a Bachelor’s Degree in English, an Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the current Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of New York — appointed by His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan — also will receive the Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa. Immediately prior to assuming leadership of the 156 Catholic Schools and more than 50,000 students in the Archdiocese of New York, she served as president of Cor Jesu Academy in Saint Louis, a high school sponsored by her religious congregation. Sr. Mary Grace also served the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut as the Provost of Education, Evangelization and Catechesis and as President of St. Thomas Seminary from 2016 to 2020. Before that, she was Superintendent and Secretary of Catholic Education and Faith Formation in the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sr. Mary Grace began her ministry as an elementary and secondary school teacher and administrator — serving in four other archdioceses and dioceses throughout the country. Sr. Mary Grace earned her Master’s in Educational Administration from Saint Louis University and her Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Supervision/Church Leadership from Fordham University.

Director and Albertus Alumna, Yakeita Robinson ‘20

Dixwell Community House (Q House), a collaboration of local organizations committed to providing the New Haven Community with valuable and accessible resources, will receive the St. Dominic Medal. The Q House is a safe, supportive, and empowering home for the Dixwell and Newhallville communities. It originally opened in 1924 as a settlement house for African Americans moving north as part of the Great migration. It served as a center for the historic Black community in these areas for generations, providing a comprehensive set of community-based services for residents of all ages. In 2003, the Q House closed its doors due to funding needs but reopened 19 years later — thanks to a group of dedicated activists. The new Q House is deeply committed to community, loves its history, and has a passion for a shared future — and now includes the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, the Stetson branch of the New Haven Public Library, and the Dixwell/Newhallville Senior Center — in addition to spaces managed by Leadership, Education, and Athletics in Partnership, Inc., (LEAP). Accepting on behalf of the Q House is the organization’s Director and Albertus Alumna, Yakeita Robinson ‘20.

Executive Director Matthew Fitzsimmons with students

The Covenant School of Bridgeport, whose mission is to develop young leaders who are intellectually competent, open to growth, loving, compassionate, and committed to serving others, is the other St. Dominic medal awardee. Covenant School of Bridgeport provides high quality, comprehensive educations to boys from underserved communities, offering them a safe, rigorous academic setting and advancing their spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and physical growth. The organization accompanies students and alumni from enrollment through the start of their careers as they develop their gifts and grow as men. The guiding vision of the Covenant School is to create an education model that addresses the cycle of poverty that plagues students’ communities and replaces it with a cycle of hope, determination, and success. In order to challenge Bridgeport’s widening achievement gap and graduation statistics for underserved males, The Covenant School of Bridgeport asks what more can be done to change the face of urban education to instill the confidence in their students to find “the more” within themselves. Accepting on behalf of The Covenant School of Bridgeport is David Olson, principal.