CBS Anchor From Mahwah To Give Commencement Address

Emmy Award winning CBS News anchor Chris Wragge will speak at 's 54th annual commencement ceremony on May 16. Wragge will deliver the keynote address to the Class of 2012, the largest in the College's history with 1,516 graduates, at the 10 a.m. ceremony at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Wragge is a graduate of and the University of New Hampshire. His extensive professional accomplishments in the broadcasting industry have garnered him 14 Emmys, including three wins in the Best News Anchor category. In addition, he and his CBS News colleagues won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for "CBS Reports: Children of the Recession."

Prior to joining CBS, Wragge worked for NBC Sports. His assignments included covering the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, four years as sideline reporter for NBA game broadcasts and two years covering the WNBA. He also covered the PGA Tour for five years, Notre Dame Football, and the PBR. Additionally, he anchored NBC's Sportsdesk reports from 2002-04 and spent four years as a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight.

Graduating Class Speaker Gregory Allen, 42, of Ringwood, NJ, an Environmental Studies major, will deliver remarks on behalf of the Class of 2012. Allen will be the fourth member of his family to graduate from Ramapo College. An entrepreneur, Allen has managed to secure in excess of $20 million dollars in federal and state grants to help construct over 250 units of affordable housing through-out Hudson and Bergen counties. After graduation, Allen will continue his work on a $70 million dollar redevelopment project in Northern New Jersey where he is converting former landfills into commuter parking lots and large scale solar fields.

The Award of Merit will be presented to Aijaz "Jazz" Tobaccowalla '90. Tobaccowalla, 44, of Upper Saddle River, is a Senior Vice President with Pfizer. He is in charge of business technology for the company's global biopharmaceutical businesses. His work was recently featured in an article in CIO Magazine and he has spoken on information technology matters affecting business as a panelist at Temple University and at the University of Maryland.

Ramapo will also honor College supporters and friends, Lawrence C. and Theresa Salameno. Honorary Doctorate of Letters degrees will be conferred upon the couple. The Salamenos have a 10-year affiliation with Ramapo and are known throughout the region as generous philanthropists for education. Their daughter, Francesca, is a 2006 graduate.

The above is a release from Ramapo College.