Salve Regina University conferred 525 bachelor’s degrees on the Class of 2026 during its 76th commencement Sunday, sending graduates off with a charge to lead with mercy and meet a difficult moment with courage.
The ceremony, held on the university’s oceanside campus, featured remarks from broadcast journalist and author Ray Suarez, Salve President Kelli J. Armstrong, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed and Newport City Councilor Ellen Pinnock.
Suarez, who delivered the keynote address, drew on his 50-year career in newsrooms to contrast the world graduates entered in the 1990s — when they were “fielding multiple job offers and signing bonuses” — with the more challenging social, economic and political landscape today’s graduates face.
“You, who right now don’t feel very powerful, or influential, will have a lot to say about how that new America feels about itself,” Suarez told the graduates. “As part of the vanguard members of that generation of transformation…educated, trained, lifetime citizens of that changed America, you will tell your countrymen and women, and the world, how it’s going to be.”
He urged the class to live with purpose as they work to repair the world they have inherited.
“I hope your time here has helped you see your way to having a soul that’s in good shape, even if you’re still working out what it means to have one,” Suarez said. “Because when times are rough, having your soul in good working order is going to get you through times of no money, much better than money is going to get you through times of no soul.”
“Light up every room you’re in,” he added. “Don’t be bored and don’t be boring. Be salt… be bread… be light… be a gift to everyone you meet.”
Suarez has hosted NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” and “On Shifting Ground,” “The PBS NewsHour,” Al Jazeera America’s “Inside Story” and PBS’ “Wisdom Keepers.” His work has been recognized with duPont-Columbia and Webby awards, an Overseas Press Club Award and UCLA’s Public Policy Leadership Award, among other honors. He is also the author of several books, including “We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century” and “Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation.”
Suarez received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. The university also awarded honorary degrees to Dr. James J. O’Connell, president of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and to Helen Ryan, a lifelong educator and nurse who established an endowment supporting the university’s Salve Compass program.
In her address, Armstrong told graduates that mercy leadership would be their guide.
“You have been Salve-made. You have the mercy compass built into your DNA now,” she said. “As you leave this beautiful campus, supported by your faculty, staff and student mentors, as you achieve many successes that you have toiled hard for along the way, remember that as a mercy graduate you are called to work for a world that is harmonious, just and merciful.”
Armstrong urged the Class of 2026 to “go out and be the steady hand in the storm. Go in peace, to love and serve a world that is waiting for the person that you have become.”
Reed and Pinnock offered brief remarks and congratulations.
Valedictorian Emalyn Osborne, who shared the honor with Alexia McConaghy and Olivia Augustine, told classmates that character, not credentials, would shape their futures.
“The labels we carry may open doors for us, but it’s our character that will define what we do once we walk through them,” Osborne said. “Wherever life takes you — classrooms, hospitals, courtrooms, labs or places we can’t even imagine yet — go forward not just as what you’ve accomplished, but as who you have become. Be the person who shows up, who keeps trying, who leads with curiosity, with courage, and of course, with mercy.”
A separate ceremony Thursday, May 14, recognized graduate degree recipients, including 204 master’s degrees, 25 doctoral degrees and five Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees.
Founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1947, Salve Regina is a Catholic, coeducational institution with more than 2,700 students enrolled in over 60 academic programs.
These local students were among those awarded a diploma.
- Colin Cassady of Newport
- Mansoor Egbali of Middletown
- Veronica Hunt of Newport
- Colton Langdon of Middletown
- Cameron Page of Newport
- Conor Reilly of Newport
- Jiana Saunders of Newport
- Colin Sullivan of Middletown
- Eqlima Tahiry of Newport
- Juliette Trabal Vargas of Newport
- Esther Valin of Newport
- Lauren Westman of Middletown
- Alyssa Amaral of Tiverton
- Taylor Barnaby of Portsmouth
- Cade Destefani of Newport
- Ruth Emerson of Tiverton
- Kelly Hayes of L Compton
- Lily Keating of Tiverton
- Deirdre Rooke of Newport
- Jacoby Smith of Middletown
- Katherina Tsirkounova of Newport
