Guest Speaker, 2013 Undergraduate Commencement

The Most Reverend David M. O'Connell, C.M.

The Diocese of Trenton's Bishop David M. O'Connell, a priest of the Eastern Province of the Congregation of the Mission, also known as the Vincentians, grew up in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.

Following ordination, Bishop O’Connell’s first assignment was as director of student activities and faculty in Archbishop Wood High School, Warminster, Pa., where he served from 1982 to 1985. He then pursued studies in canon law at The Catholic University of America, Washington, obtaining a licentiate in 1987 and then a doctorate in canon law in 1990. 

Bishop O'Connell, who is passionate about Catholic education, has since received numerous honorary academic degrees from various colleges and universities, and worked at St. John's University at Niagara University before being named president of The Catholic University of America in 1998. He became the 10th Bishop of Trenton on Dec. 1., 2010. 

Honorary Degree Recipient, 2013 Undergraduate Commencement

Amy Joseph Habib '60

 Amy Habib serves as chairman of the board at Petri Baking Products, Inc., which manufactures over 200 different varieties of cookies under the Petri, Bakery Fresh, and other private label brands. Known for being active in the community, Mrs. Habib serves as a board member of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and for the National Conference of Christians and Jews. She has also served on the board of trustees for the Buffalo Seminary, the Elmwood Franklin School, the Nichols School, Georgian Court University, and Canisius College. Mrs. Habib created and chaired the annual fundraiser of the Maria M. Love Convalescent Board, a nonprofit organization dedicated to alleviating the medical-related needs of the working poor in Erie County, New York. 

Mrs. Habib has served as chair of the Public Relations Committee of the Bishop's Lay Advisory Council in Buffalo and is one of the founding members of the Board of Diocesan Education in western New York. A lifelong supporter of GCU, she earned a B.A. from Georgian Court College and an M.S. from Canisius College, Buffalo, New York, where she was a member of the Gamma Honor Society and honored with a Distinguished Citizen Achievement Award.

Guest speaker, 2013 Graduate Commencement

The Honorable Frank J. Guarini, J.D. 

Mr. Guarini received his education from Dartmouth College, Columbia University, New York University School of Law, and pursued advanced studies at The Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands. During World War II, Mr. Guarini saw active combat in the Pacific Theater aboard the USS Mount McKinley, flagship for the Pacific Amphibious Fleet. He received the Naval Commendation Medal and three Battle Stars. He is admitted to the practice of law in New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia and is active in professional organizations.

Frank J. Guarini represented Hudson County in the State Senate for two terms and served in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven terms. He was selected as a delegate to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Convention in London. He was later nominated by President Bill Clinton, with the consent of the U.S. Senate, to serve as U.S. Representative to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Since retiring from Congress, he has been active in major real estate development projects along the New Jersey Waterfront. Mr. Guarini’s extensive involvement in civic affairs includes service on the Boards of charitable, educational and cultural organizations. Throughout his career in public and private life, he has always maintained a strong interest in education. He founded Institutes and Centers at Dartmouth College, NYU School of Law, St. Peter’s College, New Jersey City University and John Cabot University in Rome.

Honorary Degree Recipient, 2013 Graduate Commencement

Mary Patrice Brown, J.D.

For more than two decades as a federal prosecutor, Mary Patrice  Brown did more than uphold the law. She served as the Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, handling all manner of criminal offenses, including terrorism, national security, narcotics conspiracies, white collar crime, child exploitation, homicides, and firearms offenses. In 2009, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., asked her to serve as the head of the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility—the first woman to hold that position. While in that office, she conducted internal investigations of allegations of misconduct by DOJ attorneys and law enforcement agents. In 2010, she became the Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ's Criminal Division, where she oversaw the DOJ's white collar crime section (the Public Integrity Section) and the Office of Enforcement Operations, which is responsible for wiretaps and electronic surveillance, the Federal Witness Security Program, and many other things. She frequently represented DOJ in meetings with her foreign counterparts, including leading the U.S. delegation to the First International Legal Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Ms. Brown recently left the DOJ to return to private practice as a partner at O'Melveny & Myers in Washington, D.C.

She received a B.S. in Foreign Service and her J.D. from Georgetown University.  In addition to being trained by Jesuits, Ms. Brown received her primary and secondary education from the Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of the Holy Cross.