Heather Abbott, a 2003 graduate of Providence College and Newport resident, whose injuries in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing led her to establish a foundation which helps amputees obtain prosthetic devices, presentED the Commencement Address at Providence College’s Ninety-Eighth Commencement Exercises on Sunday, May 15, 2016.
Abbott was one of five honorary degree recipients. The others are Robert W. Fiondella, Esq. ’64, retired CEO and chair of The Phoenix, a leading provider of wealth management products and services; Timothy P. Flanigan, M.D., a professor of medicine at Brown University who treated Ebola patients in Liberia and is also active in Haiti; Rose Weaver, an actor, singer, and playwright; and George T. Wein, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival and co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival.
