Jonathan Gueverra, Ed.D., ’81
Receives Honorary Degree from Newbury College
Newbury College, Brookline, Massachusetts
May 13, 2011
The class of 2011 cheered as Dr. Jonathan Gueverra’81 became an honorary member of their class when Newbury College conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters for his educational leadership and his service to community.
Dr. Gueverra, CEO of the Community College of the District of Columbia, emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 21 from Trinidad and Tobago. He received an Associate’s Degree from Newbury Junior College, B.S. from Providence College and an MBA and Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Boston. He returned to Newbury College to teach business, hotel and restaurant management and was named the chair of the Department of Business Administration in 1990, a post he held until 1995. Prior to becoming the CEO of the Community College of the District of Columbia, Dr. Gueverra served as provost at the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College, as Dean of the School of Business and Public Service at SUNY/Canton and Associate Dean at Massachusetts Bay Community College.
At Commencement in 1981, Jonathan Gueverra received the President’s Award, the highest student honor from President Edward Tassinari, the founder of the College. Thirty years later, retired President Tassinari sat proudly in the first row on the stage to observe the conferring of the honorary degree to Dr. Jonathan Gueverra by Newbury College President Hannah M. McCarthy.
The enthusiastic audience –the 2011 graduates and their families and friends—rose to their feet to applaud and cheer when President McCarthy presented him with his honorary degree. If he experienced a flashback, it didn’t show, but for a small smile as Larry Kaplan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, presided during the hooding ceremony.
Dr. Gueverra reminded the class of 2011 of the trickle down impact of a college education: “if even one person among us loses an opportunity for higher education, we ALL lose the potential locked up in that individual…” He also shared his belief, which is exemplified through his own life work and service, that “passion is not merely personal ambition, but is grounded in a fundamental desire to serve, to guide, to improve lives, to reach those who might ordinarily not succeed...to take you places that you probably had not imagined…” .
President McCarthy commended him for living the “Newbury mission of lifelong learning and social responsibility…making certain that educational opportunity remains open for all.” Dr. Gueverra’s work and commitment to opportunity embodies the very nature of the mission of Newbury College.
He is a member of numerous professional and civic organizations, including the advisory board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the Presidents Round Table of African American CEOs, Generation Hope, and the recipient of many honors and awards.
Dr. Gueverra lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his family.
