2020

Each year we honor a small number of people who have made enduring contributions to society and the world through their personal and professional endeavors.

This year’s honorees are:

Judy Dworin ’70, Trinity College professor of theater and dance, emerita, the first woman to receive a bachelor’s degree from Trinity. Dworin, who will receive an honorary doctorate, serves as the executive and artistic director of the Judy Dworin Performance Project (JDPP), an award-winning organization whose work on stage, in schools, and in prison communities sparks awareness about social issues and offers compelling experiences through performances and residencies. Dworin taught at Trinity for 43 years; during that time, she established the Dance Program, co-founded the Trinity/La MaMa Performing Arts Semester in New York City, and played a key role in the founding of the Department of Theater and Dance, which she chaired for many years.

Dworin received her undergraduate degree at the same ceremony as three other women, and Trinity also plans to bestow honorary doctorates on these classmates as part of the college’s Women at the Summit celebration of 50 years of coeducation. They are: Betty Gallo ’70, who had a 42-year career lobbying the Connecticut General Assembly on behalf of organizations that advocate for civil rights and who established her own government relations and lobbying firm; Judith Odlum Pomeroy ’70, a proud parent and grandparent who worked at Aetna before volunteering her time with community organizations and schools; and Roberta Russell ’70, a private-practice psychotherapist with a wide range of specialties.

Other honorary doctorate recipients will be Francisco L. Borges ’74, a former State of Connecticut treasurer, Hartford City Council member, and deputy mayor who now serves as chair and managing partner of Landmark Partners, an institutional alternative investment management firm, and The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, the 27th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church and the first African American to hold this position. Curry, who delivered the sermon at the 2018 wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, also will be the Baccalaureate speaker.

In addition, two members of the Trinity community, James Hanley and Peter McMorris, co-founders and co-executive directors of the on-campus movie theater Cinestudio, will receive honorary bachelor’s degrees as the theater celebrates its 50th anniversary.