SUNY College at Old Westbury President Calvin O. Butts, III announced today that internationally recognized, GRAMMY Award winning jazz musician Paquito D'Rivera has been approved by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York to receive a Doctor of Music, honoris causa, from the College this May during its 46th Commencement Ceremony.
"I believe our student body, among the most diverse in the nation, can benefit from using Mr. D'Rivera's life story as a model for their own," said President Butts in his announcement. "As he has written, 'Jazz is the most representative product of a multinational and polycultural society like America.' This is a truly an exciting development for our College."
Upon being awarded his degree, Mr. D'Rivera will become the 27th person to have received such an honor from our College. Having sought asylum in the U.S. after defecting from his native Cuba, Mr. D'Rivera struggled to succeed as an individual and as an artist in his new country. Nevertheless, due to his hard work and talent he became a world renowned, award winning, jazz and classical musician, a recognized composer, and a writer. Among his many achievements, Mr. D'Rivera counts an NEA Jazz Masters Award presented by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2005, the National Medal for the Arts presented by President George W. Bush in 2005, the President's Award from the International Association for Jazz Educators in 2008, and 12 GRAMMY Awards.
The announcement by President Butts followed Mr. D'Rivera's recent visit to campus, where he played a sold out show in the John & Lillian Maguire Theater in an event organized by the College's Hispanic/Latino Cultural Center.
One of Mr. D'Rivera's books, "My Sax Life: A Memoir," on his experiences as a new immigrant to the United States has been part of the syllabus for the College's graduate course "Points of Contact." Students reading this text take away a new perspective on entering a foreign culture and society by a first generation American. Mr. D'Rivera's tribulations and triumphs bring a refreshing and ground breaking point of view to the issues of Latinos in New York as it gives a positive perception of this experience.
The 46th Commencement Ceremony of SUNY College at Old Westbury will be held on Sunday, May 20, 2012 at 9 a.m. on the College's Meadow Terrace.