Pictured above (left to right): President Michele Perkins and Senator Jeanne Shaheen

Michele D. Perkins, President of New England College, announces that Jeanne Shaheen, United States Senator from New Hampshire, will speak at the College’s 64th Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 14. Senator Shaheen will receive the honorary Doctor of Laws degree. The ceremony will be held at 11:00 a.m. on the Simon Green.

Jeanne Shaheen is the first woman to be elected Governor of New Hampshire, the first woman in history to have been elected both a Governor and a United States Senator, and the first woman from New Hampshire to be elected to the U.S. Senate. She is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on Small Business.

During her three terms as Governor of New Hampshire, Jeanne Shaheen balanced the state’s budget each year. She challenged the utilities and insurance industries bringing healthy competition and accountability to the business sector and lowering rates and providing more choices for New Hampshire’s citizens.

Having worked in education, she understands, first hand, the challenges faced by local and national schools. She has demonstrated her ongoing commitment to education by creating opportunities for early childhood education and making college education more economically accessible.

As Director of the Harvard University Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government, Senator Shaheen inspired a new generation of political leaders to bring both education and ethics to their careers.

“Senator Shaheen is an extraordinary role model for women and for unqualified success in the political arena,” states Dr. Michele Perkins, President of New England College. “We are particularly mindful of her commitment to education and to her unfailing efforts to place the citizens of New Hampshire first. The New England College community looks forward to recognizing her accomplishments in education, business, and government.”