62nd Commencement to Honor David Brooks and Charlotte P. Armstrong

Charlotte P. Armstrong

Commencement, at 2:30 p.m. in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, will recognize 401 graduates. The College’s baccalaureate will precede commencement at 9:30 a.m., at The Church of St. Paul the Apostle. 

At the baccalaureate, the College presents graduates with their hoods, worn later in the day at commencement. Associate Professor of Communication Arts Laura Tropp, Ph.D., recipient of the 2011 Excellence in Teaching Award, will present remarks at the ceremony. Awards for student excellence and achievement will also be presented. 

This year’s valedictorian Valerie Carmel ’11, international studies major, and senior class speaker Michael Kinnan ’11, theatre arts major, will address their classmates during commencement. President Judson R. Shaver, Ph.D., will present remarks and award this year’s honorary degrees. 

Charlotte P. Armstrong will be granted a Doctor of Law, honoris causa. Armstrong is a respected attorney, an advisor on corporate governance and a committed philanthropist, who combines her enthusiasm for the practice of law and her passion for helping others. 

Born and raised in the Boston area, Mrs. Armstrong graduated cum laude with an A.B. in government, history and economics from Radcliffe College and then earned an A.M. in public law and government from Columbia University. As a member of the first Harvard Law School class to admit women, she earned her LL.B. there in 1953. She moved to Washington, DC, where she served as a trial attorney in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Mrs. Armstrong advanced her career as an associate with Cravath, Swaine & Moore, in New York City, providing legal advice to clients on matters involving human resources, and fiduciary, securities and tax laws. Thereafter, she provided similar advice to clients in a variety of professional roles for other employers. Currently she is a senior managing director with the Brock Capital Group LLC. 

Mrs. Armstrong is co-author of a text book Executive Employment and Compensation. Over the years she has contributed articles to a variety of industry publications, including Directorship, Solutions and STERNbusiness, the magazine of New York University’s Business School. 

Throughout her career Mrs. Armstrong has given substantial time to philanthropy, especially education. In 1999 she completed a six-year term as a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, serving during her last year as president of the Board. From 1994 to 1996 she was president of the worldwide Harvard Law School Association. Her Harvard service included chairing two of the university’s visiting committees for five years each: Harvard Law School and the university-wide human resources function. Currently she is president of the Harvard Law School Association of New York City. 

As an active volunteer, Mrs. Armstrong currently chairs the Board of Trustees of the American Farm School in Greece and serves as a trustee and treasurer of the Royal Oak Foundation. Mrs. Armstrong is also a trustee and member of the executive committee of the American Trust for the British Library, and as director and member of the executive committee of the National Institute of Social Sciences. 

David Brooks will be granted a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. Mr. Brooks became an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times in September 2003. Previously, Mr. Brooks had been a senior editor at The Weekly Standard and a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly. Mr. Brooks joined The Weekly Standard at its inception in September 1995. Before that, he worked for nine years at The Wall Street Journal, where his last position was op-ed editor. He also was stationed in Brussels, covering Russia, the Middle East, South Africa and European affairs. His first post at The Journal was as editor of the book review section, and he filled in for five months as the paper’s movie critic. 

Mr. Brooks is a commentator on “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” on PBS, and is a frequent commentator on “Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer” on CNN and “The Diane Rehm Show” on National Public Radio. He is the author of “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There” and “On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense.” He is also is the editor of the 1996 anthology “Backward and Upward: the New Conservative Writing.” Mr. Brooks has contributed articles to many publications including The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Public Interest, The Times Literary Supplement, The New Republic and Commentary. 

Born in Toronto on Aug. 11, 1961, Mr. Brooks received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Chicago in 1983. Immediately after graduation, he became a police reporter for the City News Bureau, a wire service owned jointly by The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times. Mr. Brooks is married and lives in Bethesda, Md. 

Marymount Manhattan College is an urban, independent, liberal arts college. The mission of the College is to educate a socially and economically diverse student body by fostering intellectual achievement and personal growth and by providing opportunities for career development.

Published: May 02, 2011