May 03, 2007 06:00 PM
Journalist Tim Russert to Keynote Yeshiva University Commencement
Apr 30, 2007 -- Tim Russert, award-winning television journalist, author, and moderator of the influential Sunday-morning talk show “Meet the Press,” will address Yeshiva University’s (YU) graduating classes at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on May 17, 2007 at 11 am. Mr. Russert, who will also receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from YU President Richard M. Joel, will speak about “Lessons and Values for Life.” More than 2,000 graduate students in the fields of law, medicine, social work, education, Jewish studies, and psychology, as well as undergraduate students from Yeshiva College, Stern College for Women, and Sy Syms School of Business, will be awarded degrees.
President Joel will also confer honorary degrees on philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, chairman of the boards of the Jewish Life Network and birthright israel; Jacob Birnbaum, founder of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry; and philanthropist Stanley Silverstein, founder and chairman of Nina Footwear. This year’s Presidential Medallion will be awarded to YU coach Stanley Watson. Mr. Watson has been a member of YU’s athletic staff for over 20 years. His uncompromising dedication to the students as a teacher, coach, and counselor has earned him campus-wide respect and affection.
Tim Russert is Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News and has been the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” since 1991. He is also a frequent contributor to other NBC news programs and co-anchors the network’s presidential election night coverage. Russert is a graduate of John Carroll University and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. A member of the New York and District of Columbia bars, he was an advisor to New York Governor Mario Cuomo and chief of staff to the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Jacob Birnbaum is founder and director of Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ), the Center for Russian and East European Jewry, and other Soviet Jewry groups. Mr. Birnbaum is a Jewish activist, who, in the 1960s at a time when students all over the world were protesting injustice of all kinds, initiated a grass roots struggle for Soviet Jewry in New York City. It laid the groundwork for a movement that energized an entire generation of Jewish activists. He is the grandson of Nathan Birnbaum, a Jewish student activist in the mid 19th century, and secretary general of the first Zionist Congress in 1897. Jacob Birnbaum was born in Germany in 1926. He was raised, educated and spent his early working life in England before he came to the United States.
Stanley Silverstein is the chairman of Nina Footwear, a manufacturer of shoes, handbags, and accessories, and a director of the Children’s Place chain of retail stores. Born in Vilna, Lithuania, his family immigrated to Cuba where Mr. Silverstein was educated and where his father established a shoe company. After coming to the United States and serving in the United States Army, Mr. Silverstein founded Nina Footwear, now one of the few privately owned companies in the shoe business. One of the founders of Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business, Mr. Silverstein, along with his wife, Raine, are active in Jewish education and philanthropy.
Michael Steinhardt is known for his philanthropy and also for his passion for art and antiquities. Once a prominent hedge-fund manager, he retired from asset management and in 1994 founded the Jewish Life Network “to strengthen and transform American Jewish life so that it may flourish in a fully integrated, free society,” and birthright israel, a program of the Jewish Life Network, was started by Mr. Steinhardt and others in 1999 to enhance Jewish identity and create a central place for Israel among young Jews in the Diaspora. The program affords every Jew between the ages of 18-26 the opportunity to spend time living and learning in Israel by giving him or her a free round-trip ticket and 10 days of intensive Jewish educational experiences in Israel. Mr. Steinhardt is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
Stanley Watson is Yeshiva College’s Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Intramural Athletics, a position he has held since 1986. Born in Woodruff, South Carolina, Mr. Watson was raised and educated in New York City and received an A.A. degree in physical education from the City College of New York (CCNY). Between high school and college Mr. Watson served as a medical corpsman with the United States Army and the United States Army Reserve. He joined the faculty of YU while pursuing his studies at CCNY. Mr. Watson is a much-loved and respected member of the YU community.
YU’s graduate schools will hold commencement ceremonies as follows: Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Wednesday, May 16, at YU’s Wilf Campus; Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Monday, May 21, at YU’s Wilf Campus; Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Tuesday, May 29, at YU’s Wilf Campus; Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Wednesday, June 6, at Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center; Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Friday, June 8, at Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
President Joel will also confer honorary degrees on philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, chairman of the boards of the Jewish Life Network and birthright israel; Jacob Birnbaum, founder of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry; and philanthropist Stanley Silverstein, founder and chairman of Nina Footwear. This year’s Presidential Medallion will be awarded to YU coach Stanley Watson. Mr. Watson has been a member of YU’s athletic staff for over 20 years. His uncompromising dedication to the students as a teacher, coach, and counselor has earned him campus-wide respect and affection.
Tim Russert is Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News and has been the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” since 1991. He is also a frequent contributor to other NBC news programs and co-anchors the network’s presidential election night coverage. Russert is a graduate of John Carroll University and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. A member of the New York and District of Columbia bars, he was an advisor to New York Governor Mario Cuomo and chief of staff to the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Jacob Birnbaum is founder and director of Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ), the Center for Russian and East European Jewry, and other Soviet Jewry groups. Mr. Birnbaum is a Jewish activist, who, in the 1960s at a time when students all over the world were protesting injustice of all kinds, initiated a grass roots struggle for Soviet Jewry in New York City. It laid the groundwork for a movement that energized an entire generation of Jewish activists. He is the grandson of Nathan Birnbaum, a Jewish student activist in the mid 19th century, and secretary general of the first Zionist Congress in 1897. Jacob Birnbaum was born in Germany in 1926. He was raised, educated and spent his early working life in England before he came to the United States.
Stanley Silverstein is the chairman of Nina Footwear, a manufacturer of shoes, handbags, and accessories, and a director of the Children’s Place chain of retail stores. Born in Vilna, Lithuania, his family immigrated to Cuba where Mr. Silverstein was educated and where his father established a shoe company. After coming to the United States and serving in the United States Army, Mr. Silverstein founded Nina Footwear, now one of the few privately owned companies in the shoe business. One of the founders of Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business, Mr. Silverstein, along with his wife, Raine, are active in Jewish education and philanthropy.
Michael Steinhardt is known for his philanthropy and also for his passion for art and antiquities. Once a prominent hedge-fund manager, he retired from asset management and in 1994 founded the Jewish Life Network “to strengthen and transform American Jewish life so that it may flourish in a fully integrated, free society,” and birthright israel, a program of the Jewish Life Network, was started by Mr. Steinhardt and others in 1999 to enhance Jewish identity and create a central place for Israel among young Jews in the Diaspora. The program affords every Jew between the ages of 18-26 the opportunity to spend time living and learning in Israel by giving him or her a free round-trip ticket and 10 days of intensive Jewish educational experiences in Israel. Mr. Steinhardt is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
Stanley Watson is Yeshiva College’s Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Intramural Athletics, a position he has held since 1986. Born in Woodruff, South Carolina, Mr. Watson was raised and educated in New York City and received an A.A. degree in physical education from the City College of New York (CCNY). Between high school and college Mr. Watson served as a medical corpsman with the United States Army and the United States Army Reserve. He joined the faculty of YU while pursuing his studies at CCNY. Mr. Watson is a much-loved and respected member of the YU community.
YU’s graduate schools will hold commencement ceremonies as follows: Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Wednesday, May 16, at YU’s Wilf Campus; Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Monday, May 21, at YU’s Wilf Campus; Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Tuesday, May 29, at YU’s Wilf Campus; Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Wednesday, June 6, at Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center; Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Friday, June 8, at Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
