Bunker Hill Community College Graduates Record Number of Students

News provided by

May 31, 2012, 08:59 ET

BOSTON, May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) will celebrate its 38th Commencement on Saturday, June 2, 2012. More than 1,135 students will be graduating, which is an increase of 12.7% compared to 2011, and the largest graduating class to date. Commencement exercises will be held at the Charlestown campus at 11:00 a.m.

Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Eileen M. Collins, the first female commander of a NASA space shuttle mission, will keynote the commencement ceremonies. Collins, a community college graduate and the daughter of immigrants, was selected by NASA to be an astronaut in 1990. Five years later, she made history as the first female shuttle pilot and, a brief four years after that, in 1999, Collins became the first woman to command the space shuttle. Her missions as pilot included the first rendezvous with the Russian space shuttle Mir and, as commander, the deployment of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, a telescope designed to conduct comprehensive studies of the universe.

Collins earned an associate degree in mathematics and science at Corning Community College in New York, attended Syracuse University for her bachelor's degree, and received master's degrees from Stanford and Webster universities. Her numerous medals, awards and honors include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for service in Grenada, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Legion of Honor.

PRESS CONTACT INFORMATION:
Colleen Roach
Executive Director of Communications & Marketing
Bunker Hill Community College
250 New Rutherford Avenue
Boston, MA 02129; Phone: (617) 228 2177; Email: [email protected]

Bunker Hill Community College is the largest community college in Massachusetts. The College enrolls more than 13,600 students on two campuses and at four satellite locations. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in Massachusetts. Six in ten students are people of color and more than half of BHCC's students are women. The College also enrolls 830 international students who come from more than 90 countries and speak 75 different languages.

SOURCE Bunker Hill Community College