Happiness expert Arthur Brooks, Providence College commencement speaker. Hon. degrees.

Harvard Happiness Expert Arthur Brooks, Commencement Speaker – Four Others to Receive Honorary Degrees

Providence College (PC) announced that Harvard University Happiness Expert Dr. Arthur Brooks, will present the Commencement Address at the College’s 106th Commencement exercises. The ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 19 at 11:00 a.m. at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Downtown Providence.

Since 2019, Dr. Brooks has served as the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Nonprofit Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership, happiness, and social entrepreneurship.  Previously, he was president of the American Enterprise Institute, one of the world’s most influential think-tanks, from 2009 -2019.

He is the author of thirteen books, his most recent being a collaboration with Oprah Winfrey entitled Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier. Since 2020, he has written a regular and popular column in The Atlantic called How to Build a Life. He speaks to audiences around the world about human happiness, and works to raise well-being within private companies, colleges and universities, public agencies, and community organizations.

Dr. Brooks was selected as one of Fortune Magazine’s “50 World’s Greatest Leaders.”  He holds a B.A. in Economics from Thomas Edison State College (now a university) in New Jersey. He also earned a Master’s Degree in Economics from Florida Atlantic University. His M. Phil. and Ph.D. in public policy analysis came from the RAND Graduate School in CA while he was working for the RAND Corporation as a military operations research analyst.

Dr. Brooks has been awarded seven honorary degrees: Catholic University (2023), St. Thomas Aquinas College (2020), Brigham Young University (2019), Claremont McKenna College (also 2019), Hampden Sydney College (2018), Jacksonville University (also 2018), Ava Maria University (2015) and Thomas Edison State College (2013).  Prior to teaching at Harvard, Dr. Brooks also taught at Georgia State University and Syracuse University.

Honorary Degrees

Dr. Brooks is one of five honorary degree recipients PC will honor at this ceremony. The others are: Dr. Wanda Ingram ’75, who retired last year after a 33-year career as a class dean and academic advisor; Troy Quinn ’05, one of America’s most versatile young artists and the conductor and music director of several symphony orchestras; Elizabeth Ruane who, along with her husband, former PC Board of Trustees Chair Michael Ruane ‘71, are among the largest benefactors in the College’s history; and Dr. Raymond Sickinger ’71, professor emeritus of history who became a vital and engaged member of the College’s community from the day he arrived in 1967 until his retirement more than 50 years later.

A separate ceremony for graduate students and graduates of the School of Continuing Education will take place on Friday, May 18 at 6:00 p.m. in the Peterson Center on the PC campus.  Dr. Ingram will be the featured speaker at that ceremony.

Additional Honorees:

A member of PC’s first graduating class of women and one of the College’s first female graduates of color, Dr. Wanda Ingram has been both a role model and a strong advocate for countless students and their scholarship throughout her three-decade career at the College.  (She retired after the 2023 academic year as senior associate dean of student academic success.)  

Known throughout campus as a change agent, Dr. Ingram always took the extra steps to ensure that the students she advised received the care, education, and mentorship they needed to succeed. For many years, she met with new students and parents at orientation, and she was part of the CARE Team (Campus Assessment, Response & Evaluation) for most of her college career.

Dr. Ingram was a Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Scholar as an undergraduate student, and later served as co-chair of the MLK Convocation Committee.  In addition, she taught in the graduate school and in the School of Continuing Education and was a co-chair of PC’s celebration of the 50^thanniversary of women at the College.  She was inducted as a Foundation member of the College’s first Phi Beta Kappa chapter in 2022.

After graduating from PC, Dr. Ingram earned a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology in 1977 from the C.W. Post Center at Long Island University and worked in the counseling center at the University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth (then called Southeastern Massachusetts University).  While at UMass, she was chosen to attend the Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) program at Wellesley College which helped prepare women faculty and administrators for leadership roles. She eventually became the Executive Assistant to the President at UMass Dartmouth. While still working in the UMass system, Dr. Ingram was asked to a become a member of a PC committee that was commemorating the 75th Anniversary of Providence College. In 1990, after being at UMass Dartmouth for 13 years, Dr. Ingram returned to PC as an assistant dean of undergraduate studies and served as the first-year class dean. In 2003, she earned a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Johnson and Wales University.

Dr. Ingram was the recipient of several awards during her PC career, including the PC Alumni Association Achievement Award (1995) and the Alumni Association’s Faculty/Staff Achievement Award (2000). She is a co-author of the book “Let the Journey Begin: A Parent’s Monthly Guide to the College Experience,” which was published in 2002.

Lauded for his energetic and riveting conducting, Troy Quinn is now in his seventh season as Music Director of the Owensboro Symphony in Kentucky, and his sixth season as Music Director of the Venice Symphony in Florida. He also serves concurrently as Music Director of the Santa Monica Symphony in California.  Quinn also is the Pops Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and previously served as Music Director and Conductor of the Juneau Symphony in Alaska from 2015-2018.

Equally at home in the popular music world, Quinn has performed and recorded with some of the most popular artists of our time including The Rolling Stones, Josh Groban, Jennifer Hudson, The Beach Boys, and Barry Manilow. An accomplished vocalist, he has collaborated with such prominent maestros as Helmuth Rilling, Carl St. Clair, and Dan Saunders of the Metropolitan Opera. In addition to his concert work, Quinn has worked extensively in the television and recording industries, having made appearances on such shows as GLEE, The Voice, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Quinn holds a BA degree from PC where he was the recipient of the Leo S. Cannon Award for superior achievement in the music field. He earned a Master’s Degree with honors from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied conducting with David Gilbert and voice with Metropolitan Opera Singer Mark Oswald. Quinn completed a doctorate in conducting at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and was named the outstanding doctoral graduate in his class.  He now serves on the conducting faculty at that school.

While at PC, Quinn sang in many musicals including “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” as a first-year student, and with the College’s premier choir I Cantori. He was a member of Special Guest, the all-male a capella group at PC as well as a member of the Friars Club. As a senior recital, Quinn conducted the choir and orchestra in Handel’s Messiah and, three years later, joined PC’s music faculty as a Special Lecturer in Music.

Elizabeth Ruane and her husband Michael Ruane have truly been catalysts for much of the PC’s success over the last decade. 

From financial support for the Ruane Center for the Humanities, to the Ruane Atrium, to the Ruane Friar Development Center, and numerous other gifts, many of which have included scholarships for students, Elizabeth and Michael Ruane have been among the most generous benefactors in the College’s history.

In addition to their support of PC, Elizabeth and Michael have been incredibly generous to a series of other causes, specifically health care. Several centers and endowed chairs at Massachusetts General Hospital have been named for the Ruane’s. They have also supported Beverly Hospital and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Their leadership support of Massachusetts Eye and Ear has enabled exceptional clinicians and scientists to provide world-leading care, pursue bold new research, and train the next generation of leaders in ophthalmology, otolaryngology and head and neck surgery.

Ms. Ruane is a member of the International Thyroid Oncology Group and the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center Advisors.  The Ruane’s are leaders in thyroid cancer research, and their generosity has directly funded two papers published on advances in thyroid cancer.   Their support has also led to a series of clinical trials in thyroid cancer treatment.

Ms. Ruane earned a BS degree from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and an M.Ed. degree from Boston State College. She taught special education in Salem, MA for several years in the 1970s.

A first-generation college student, Dr. Raymond Sickinger served his alma mater as a faculty member of esteem and significant duration. 

During his 46 years as a faculty member, Dr. Sickinger served as chair of two academic departments at PC (the Department of History and the Department of Public and Community Service Studies) and as Director of the College’s Feinstein Institute for Public Service.  In addition to being a mentor to generations of PC students, his career was filled with prolific scholarship. His 2018 book, Antoine Frederic Ozanam: Life, Lessons, Legacy, is considered the pre-eminent biography of Ozanam, the founder of the St. Vincent DePaul Society, a worldwide Catholic lay organization committed to serving the poor. The book won first place for biography at the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada Book Awards in 2018.

A long-time member of PC’s Faculty Senate, Dr. Sickinger served that body as both vice president and chair of numerous Senate committees. He was a member of the Committee on Academic Rank and Tenure, the Committee on Studies, and the Committee on Academic Achievement. He also chaired a committee tasked with reviewing and revising the College’s mission statement. From 1985-1997, he was assistant dean of undergraduate studies, overseeing the advisement program for undeclared students. In 2021, he received the Service to Education Award from the PC Alumni Association.

A former honors student himself, Dr. Sickinger served as a faculty representative to the Arts Honors Committee and as acting associate director of the Liberal Arts Honors Program in 2001.  He regularly taught in the Liberal Arts Honors Program for many years.  In 2015, Dr. Sickinger received the Liberal Arts Honors Distinguished Alumni Award.  He sat on the President’s Task Force on the School of Continuing Education and served as chair of the ad hoc Committee on Resident Life. For 38 years, he was PC’s representative on the Rhodes Scholarship Foundation Committee.  

Dr. Sickinger has been a member of the Society of St. Vincent DePaul for 40 years, serving the poor of Rhode Island through direct outreach and works of mercy. He was President of the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s Diocesan Council of Rhode Island for six years, and currently provides formation training to its members.  He was awarded the Diocesan Council of Providence SVDP Annual Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. He also served for 20 years on the organization’s national board of directors. He currently sits on the Society’s International Historical Commission and the National Formation Committee. He is a long-standing member of the American Historical Association and of Phi Alpha Theta (the History Honor Society). Dr. Sickinger’s record of community service is extensive, ranging from serving as a member of the Rhode Island Bicentennial Commission to the board of the Rhode Island Donation Exchange Program and as the President of St. Peter’s (Warwick) Parish Council. He earned both his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in European History from the University of Notre Dame.

Founded in 1917, Providence College is the only college or university in the United States administered by the Dominican Friars. The Catholic, liberal arts college has an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 4,000 students and offers degrees in 52 academic majors and 38 minors. Since 1997, Providence College consistently has been ranked among the top five regional universities in the North according to U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.”