Caldwell University to Celebrate Its 80th Commencement May 15 

Yaman Thapa

Caldwell, N.J., May 2, 2022–Caldwell University will celebrate its 80th annual commencement Sunday, May 15, in the Newman Center on campus. The ceremony for master’s and doctoral graduates will begin at 10 a.m. The ceremony for undergraduates will be held at 1 p.m. 

Yaman Thapa will be the undergraduate ceremony speaker. Thapa, who will be receiving a chemistry degree with a minor in neuroscience, has been accepted to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring, New York, to pursue her Ph.D. Among her many accomplishments, the Nepal native spent the summer of 2021 interning in the competitive Bernard S. and Sophie G. Gould MIT Summer Research Program in Biology. 

The graduate ceremony speaker will be Patricia Valerio, who will be receiving a Master of Business Administration degree from Caldwell. A resident of Lincroft, New Jersey, Valerio is an assistant manager for Medforce where she does event planning for pharmaceutical companies. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental science from Washington College in Maryland.  

The University will present an honorary degree to Louis LaSalle, a longtime executive in New Jersey’s health care industry. He recently retired as senior vice president for corporate external affairs at Barnabas Health. LaSalle is a seasoned professional in community, public and governmental affairs in the health care industry, having spent 31 years at RWJ Barnabas Health and St. Barnabas Medical Center. A resident of Roseland, New Jersey, LaSalle is president of the Essex County Parks Foundation, serves on the Caldwell University President’s Advisory Council, is

chairman of the Roseland Planning Board and is a member of the board of directors of the American Heart Association. LaSalle has served many other community organizations in Essex County and the Garden State including the Essex County Parks Centennial Committee and the Essex County “Save Turtle Back Zoo” Committee.

A commencement Mass will be celebrated in the Sister Mary Dominic Tweedus Chapel,   4 p.m., Saturday, May 14, and is open to all graduating students, their families and friends and the faculty and staff of Caldwell University.  

For further information, go to: https://www.caldwell.edu/graduation/