Alvernia University Names Winter Commencement Speaker

Lauded Philadelphia Principal Linda Cliatt-Wayman will speak at graduation, Dec. 10

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Nov 16, 2016, 10:09 ET

READING, Pa., Nov. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Linda Cliatt-Wayman, president of Strawberry Mansion High School in Philadelphia, Pa., will be awarded an Honorary Degree of Humane Letters before offering remarks to the Alvernia University Class of 2016 at Commencement, Dec. 10, 1 p.m., in the university's Physical Education Center on Main Campus.

Educator Linda Cliatt-Wayman to speak at Alvernia University Commencement, Reading, Pa., Dec. 10.

Highly experienced as an educator in low-income, high-risk schools, Cliatt-Wayman grew up in a poverty-stricken North Philadelphia neighborhood. She earned both a bachelor's and master's degree, and returned to the city determined to make a difference as a teacher.

After 20 years as a special education teacher, Cliatt-Wayman accepted her first high school principal position. As Principal, she oversaw a dramatic rise in proficiency rates at two high schools, before being tapped as Superintendent for all 52 Philadelphia district high schools. Recently, she turned her focus back to Strawberry Mansion High School, another of the district's more troubled schools, where she now serves as Principal.

Principal Cliatt-Wayman has been a key leader in raising Strawberry Mansion's test scores and removing its federal "Persistently Dangerous Schools" label.

She has been named a recipient of the KYW News Radio Gamechanger award, the Philadelphia Magazine Trailblazer Award and the Philadelphia Maneto Award. She has been featured on ABC News and her TED talk "How to Fix a Broken School" has received more than a million views.

ALVERNIA is a thriving university that empowers students through real-world learning to discover their passion for life, while providing the education to turn what they love into lifetimes of career success and personal fulfillment, helping them make the world a better place. Situated on a scenic 121-acre suburban campus in historic Berks County, Pa., the university of more than 3,000 students is conveniently located near Philadelphia (60 miles) and within an easy drive of New York, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. With a College of Arts and Sciences and College of Professional Studies, Alvernia today offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and minors and a range of graduate programs at the master's and doctoral levels through its School of Graduate and Adult Education. Satellite sites are located in Philadelphia and Schuylkill County.

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SOURCE Alvernia University