Burlington Standard

University Of Vermont And State Agricultural College  issued the following announcement on March 17.

Erik Weihenmayer, one of the most renowned adventurers of the 21st century, best known as the first blind person to summit Mount Everest, has been selected as the University of Vermont’s 2022 commencement speaker.

Weihenmayer, along with Meghan Walsh Cioffi, Robert Cioffi, Rick Dalton, and Steven Grossman (see bios below) will receive honorary degrees during the university’s main commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 22.

This year’s commencement is especially significant, as it signals a return to a pre-pandemic, traditional schedule of ceremonies. The 2020 commencement ceremony was restructured and postponed by a year due to the pandemic, and the format of the 2021 commencement was modified to facilitate social distancing guidelines by foregoing the main ceremony.

“I am looking forward to welcoming Erik Weihenmayer and conferring an honorary degree in honor of his lifetime of incredible achievements,” said UVM President Suresh Garimella. “I cannot think of a more fitting person to address our graduates as they enter the next phase of their lives, prepared by a UVM education. Erik is a great adventurer and an inspiring role model, someone completely undeterred in the pursuit of his goals.”

Born sighted, a degenerative retinal disease left Weihenmayer totally blind just before his 14th birthday. Adventurous journeys with his family and a rock-climbing class for blind teens taught him physical skills through tactile sensation.

A Time magazine cover story describing his successful team ascent up Mount Everest in 2001—one of the world’s most notoriously dangerous expeditions—brought him worldwide recognition. This achievement was but one in a growing roster of adventure challenges for Weihenmayer. When he reached the top of Carstensz Pyramid in 2008, he became one of only 118 mountaineers in the world—and the only blind climber—to ascend the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each continent. He has climbed the 3000-foot face of Yosemite’s El Capitan as well as the infamous frozen waterfall Losar in the Himalayas. In September 2014, following six years of intense training, Erik Weihenmayer completed another historic challenge: solo kayaking the full 277-mile stretch of the Grand Canyon’s Colorado River, some of the world’s most challenging whitewater.

The desire to help others conquer limitations has become the guiding force of his life. In 2004, invited by the founder of the first and only school for blind children in Tibet, Weihenmayer and an expert support team led an expedition of six blind Tibetan teenagers to 21,500 feet on the north side of Mt. Everest, inspiring his life’s work. Weihenmayer co-founded the nonprofit No Barriers. Directed by the motto “What’s within you is stronger than what’s in your way,” No Barriers serves 10,000 people annually through programs focused on injured soldiers and veterans, families of the fallen, paraplegics and amputees, deaf and blind, people struggling with multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy, and young people with limited opportunities, including children in foster care and from the inner city. By challenging preconceptions about what it means to be blind, Weihenmayer has inspired people around the world. He will be awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

Additional Honorary Degree Recipients:

Meghan Walsh Cioffi

Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa

For Meghan Walsh Cioffi ’91, the community service she took part in as a UVM student lit the fire of commitment to serving people with challenges, which has been her driving motivation ever since. Mrs. Cioffi learned early the reciprocal value in mentoring through her work with Big Buddies, a program matching UVM students with Burlington children in need of support, and in working at the J. Warren and Lois McClure Respite House. Her time spent learning in the field inspired Mrs. Cioffi to earn a master’s in social work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Recognizing the impact that her experiences at UVM had in directing her life path, in the mid-1990s Mrs. Cioffi and her husband, Rob ’90, along with Mrs. Cioffi’s parents (former UVM trustee Frank Walsh and Mimi Walsh) made a multi-year gift to the Office of Career Services to support students seeking careers in the nonprofit sector. A few years later, when Meghan and Rob Cioffi learned that their first child would be born with Down Syndrome, renowned UVM professor of special education Susan Hasazi connected Meghan and Rob Cioffi with resources that would help them create a fully inclusive life for their firstborn daughter, Molly. A second significant gift from Meghan and Rob Cioffi and the Walsh family in 2003 funded Susan Hasazi’s research into inclusion of students with special needs, which resulted in a nationwide program to prepare school principals, superintendents, and other K–12 leaders to implement research-based practices for inclusion. The program developed a national network of inclusion advocates active today. For the past 20 years, Mrs. Cioffi has been involved with STAR Inc.: Lighting the Way, a Connecticut-based nonprofit serving people of all ages who have developmental and intellectual disabilities, as well as their families and caregivers. Meghan has served STAR in several volunteer and governance capacities over the years, and currently serves as president of the STAR board of directors. Most recently, Meghan has served as a volunteer facilitator for grief bereavement groups through Mid-Fairfield County Visiting Nurse and Hospice. Mrs. Cioffi has also held several volunteer roles as a UVM alumna, beginning as a recent graduate and continuing today. Through her dedication to community service, ignited at UVM and sustained through both hands-on and strategic support, Meghan Cioffi’s engagement and advocacy have opened pathways of possibility for many.

Robert Cioffi

Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa

Rob Cioffi ’90 earned his bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in economics. An active member of the Student Government Association and winner of the Kidder Medal for student leadership, Mr. Cioffi put his policy and governance studies into practice as the student representative to the UVM board of trustees. Since then Mr. Cioffi has held many influential positions in service to UVM. A recipient of the UVM Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Award and the Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award, with his wife, Meghan ’91, Mr. Cioffi co-chaired UVM’s National Campaign Steering Committee from 2002 to 2007, co-chaired the Move Mountains Campaign (2011–2019), and currently sits on the UVM Foundation Leadership Council. The pinnacle of Mr. Cioffi’s UVM leadership is his most recent two terms on the UVM board of trustees, serving as chair of the board from 2010 to 2014. He describes the high point of his trustee career as chairing the 2012 Presidential Search Committee, resulting in the appointment of E. Thomas Sullivan as the university’s 26th president. A spirited UVM basketball fan, Mr. Cioffi was the first member of the Victory Club, the dedicated circle of UVM Athletics benefactors. In 2015, Rob and Meghan Cioffi made a signature gift to men’s basketball, establishing the Meghan and Robert Cioffi Endowed Men’s Basketball Head Coach position, the first of its kind both at UVM and in the America East Conference. Rob and Meghan Cioffi want student-athletes to continue excelling both on the field and in academics. This endowment supports the athletics program in pursuing these dual paths to success—UVM Athletics’ dedication to academics is displayed through the Catamounts winning the Academic Cup twice as many times as any of their competitors in the America East conference. Mr. Cioffi’s community engagement is wide reaching beyond Vermont. He currently sits on the boards of the New Canaan YMCA and St. Luke’s School in New Canaan, Connecticut. In addition to his service on the UVM board of trustees, he has previously served on the boards of the National Ability Center in Park City, Utah, the Norwalk Hospital Foundation and the National Down Syndrome Society, among others. Through his dedication to the UVM community, focus on student access, and spirit for scholar-athlete success, Rob Cioffi embodies the values of leadership and participation that make communities strong.

Rick Dalton

Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa

Rick Dalton is founder and chief executive of CFES Brilliant Pathways, formerly College for Every Student, a national leader in helping underserved students become college- and career-ready. Since its start in 1991, CFES Brilliant Pathways has helped over 100,000 rural and urban students in 45 states and Ireland prepare for a successful and engaged life after high school. Every year CFES educators, mentors, and corporate partners—Colgate Palmolive, Bain & Company, Transperfect, and many others—work with K–12 students in 200 schools to help cultivate their visions for what they can do in the world and their capacities for realizing those aspirations. Essential skills such as goal setting, teamwork, and adapting to change give CFES Scholars critical keys to thriving in elementary and high school, as college students, in their career, and throughout their lives. Of the 20,000 students served each year, 99 percent of CFES Scholars graduate from high school and 95 percent choose to attend college. More than 200 graduates from high schools in the Bronx, New York’s most multiethnic and least affluent borough, are UVM Catamounts now thanks to a partnership forged by Mr. Dalton in 2000. CFES Brilliant Pathways has worked with over 30 schools in Vermont, helping hundreds of students gain admission to and succeed at UVM and greatly contributing to the economic and cultural wellbeing of Vermont. A significant $11.6 million grant in 2018 from the U.S. Department of Education supports CFES Brilliant Pathways in targeting 2000 students in seven Adirondack-area schools that draw from low-income, rural communities. Executing a “full-court press” to get these students into college, CFES Brilliant Pathways is playing a key role in readying an educated regional workforce in the North Country. Mr. Dalton has a personal connection to UVM as well, as the father of the Women’s Lacrosse team’s Head Coach.Through his dedicated work developing academic and job opportunity and readiness for promising students, Rick Dalton exemplifies the common good that can be achieved by working in partnership to advance college and career possibilities for young people in communities of all demographics.

Steven Grossman

Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa

Steven Grossman ‘61 has been the philanthropic force behind the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business and its rise to national and international prominence. As a result of Mr. Grossman’s generous support, the Grossman School is now ranked among the top nine business schools internationally—and one of the top three in the U.S.—for social impact. Building upon decades of generosity and close engagement with the university, Mr. Grossman is responsible for two historic gifts to the University of Vermont in recent years. During UVM’s last comprehensive campaign ending in 2019, the Grossman Family Foundation made a historic $25 million gift that has transformed business education at the University. The Grossman Foundation’s philanthropic support provided substantial resources for the School of Business to expand its faculty, revise and strengthen the undergraduate curriculum, and launch a new MBA program, the Sustainable Innovation MBA or SI-MBA.  Propelled by this support, the SI-MBA now sits near the top of national and international rankings. The University named the School of Business the Grossman School of Business in acknowledgement of this gift. In 2021, Mr. Grossman made another substantial gift through his personal philanthropy to ensure that the Grossman School will continue to build upon its pre-eminent position as a top-ranked MBA program in sustainable business. This second gift enables expansion and strengthening in several areas, entrepreneurship and family business, in particular, that will enhance the Grossman School’s international standing. Steven Grossman earned a Bachelor of Science in manufacturing and management engineering from UVM in 1961. During Mr. Grossman’s 46-year tenure at the Southern Container Corporation, a business started by his grandfather, the company grew to be one of the largest independent U.S. manufacturers of corrugated packaging, graphics packaging, and containerboard. Mr. Grossman and his family built their business in part by creating an employee-centered environment, and their employees reciprocated with loyalty to the firm. In fact, Mr. Grossman’s career as a philanthropist began at Southern Container when he started to support his employees and their children with college scholarships. Through his philanthropic leadership and wise programmatic counsel, Steven Grossman has made significant contributions to UVM’s standing as a public land grant university and ensured that the Grossman School of Business has become a leader in business education ideally positioned to meet the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century.

Original source can be found here.