Thursday, May 17, 2007
PRINCESS ANNE, MD – Maryland’s Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler delivers the commencement address for some 364 degree recipients, their families and friends, at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s 120th spring commencement ceremony on Friday, May 18, in the William P. Hytche Athletic Center. The ceremony begins at 9:30 a.m.
Gansler, elected on November 7, 2006, to succeed the retiring J. Joseph Curran Jr., is known for the successful and innovative programs launched to fight gangs, punish criminals, and protect the public while he served as Montgomery County’s chief prosecutor for eight years prior to becoming Attorney General. He has an unparalleled record of experience as a State’s Attorney, former Assistant United States Attorney and private litigator.
Gansler has been a lacrosse, baseball and basketball coach for his sons’ teams for many years. He played numerous sports himself while he was in high school and still holds his school’s all-time lacrosse scoring record. In college he earned All-Ivy and All-New England honors on Yale’s lacrosse team. He was also an outstanding student, consistently making Dean’s List and becoming a National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalist in high school and graduating from Yale cum laude. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and is a member of the Bar Association in both Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Among the many factors that formed his commitment to integrity, justice and fair-play, Gansler cites the time he spent during his senior year living in Montevideo, Uruguay, and working in a leather belt factory, as well as a summer working at the United States Department of Justice. He also notes the extraordinary opportunity he had to clerk with one of the State’s most revered judges, the Honorable John F. McAuliffe, on the Maryland Court of Appeals.
Honorary degree recipient Eugene W. Faison Jr., receives the Doctor of Public Service during the ceremony. Faison is chairman and chief executive officer of Equals Three Communications, Inc., a 25-year-old, award winning advertising, public relations, multi-cultural outreach and marketing company based in Bethesda, Maryland. His company has been awarded the Workplace Excellence Seal of Approval by the Greater Washington D.C. Area’s Alliance for Workplace Excellence seven years in a row.
Faison, altruistic in word and deed, has created multi-media campaigns designed to support alcohol and other drug prevention programs. He developed and marketed WORM-BUSTERS, a public/private partnership between SmithKlein Beecham and international relief organizations, to eradicate and control intestinal worms in developing countries. As founder of the Shopper’s Guide for Better Living publication, he brought vast economic benefits to African-American consumers, generating $50 million in savings through 3,000 churches in the top ten markets in the U.S. He managed the first debt-for-health program in Ecuador, working with the Ministry of Health and Rotary International to deliver medication and health education materials to 300,000 Ecuadorian children and families. Other ventures led him to generate income to support health programs for 150,000 Haitian children and families and to conceived and develop the Rex & Rita Saurus Family Reading ChallengeProduct and Licensing Program in support of Project Literacy U.S., a national awareness campaign co-sponsor.
