LOWELL — National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell will be the commencement speaker at the University of Massachusetts Lowell graduation Saturday, May 29, at the Tsongas Center.
Goodell also will accept a posthumous Doctor of Humane Letters degree for his father, the late U.S. Sen. Charles Goodell, a Republican who was elected to Congress in 1959 and was appointed to the Senate after the assassination of U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. He established a solid record on issues such as civil rights, the war on poverty and education.
"I learned a lot from my father about the importance of acting on your values and doing what's right, no matter what the pressure and opposition," Goodell said. "I welcome the opportunity to share with UMass Lowell graduates how the lessons I've learned from my father and leading the NFL can be applied to anything they pursue in life."
School Chancellor Martin Meehan said, "Roger Goodell is an inspirational role model, who can share his personal story of working his way up from intern to leader of an organization that today oversees the diverse interests of the most successful sports league in the world."
Other honorary doctorates will be given to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; her husband, Richard N. Goodwin, former presidential speechwriter and adviser; Gloria Ladson-Billings, pedagogical philosopher, scholar and educational author; and Alan P. Lightman, physicist, novelist and author of the international best seller "Einstein's Dreams."
Goodell, who was named commissioner in 2006, began his NFL career in 1982 as a public relations intern in the New York league office.
He is a native of Jamestown, N.Y., and is a 1981 graduate of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pa.
His father opposed the Vietnam War. He took part in the first anti-war march down Constitution Avenue, his arms linked with Coretta Scott King and George McGovern. He then became a target of the Nixon-Agnew "purge" during his re-election bid. Criticized by his own Republican Party as a radical liberal who was undercutting the president, Goodell lost his bid for re-election to Nixon-backed Republican James Buckley.
In addition, 1981 UMass Lowell graduate Bonnie Comley, an award-winning Broadway producer, will speak at a commencement eve celebration. The gala, which will benefit student scholarships, including new endowments in honor of Charles Goodell and Richard and Doris Kearns Goodwin, will be at 6 p.m. at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center.
The celebration will be preceded by a 4 p.m. special event with the Goodwins - "A Conversation with Doris & Dick." Both events are open to the public.
