Imam Salih Yucel speaks at UNH Manchester's 20th Commencement May 17 

By Ginger Hobbs Lever, UNHM College Relations

UNH Manchester celebrated the achievements of more than 260 graduates at the college's 20th Commencement May 17. Commencement was held in the Expo Center at The Center of New Hampshire in Manchester.

Imam Salih Yucel gave the commencement address. The student address was given by honors student Elizabeth Fournier of Manchester, who earned a bachelor’s of history. The commencement proceedings included an address by the 2005 Teaching Excellence Award recipient, Jack McCarthy, assistant professor of business and program coordinator of the UNHM business program, and recognition of Jennifer Armstrong, recipient of the Adjunct Faculty Award.

Yucel, director of the Boston Dialogue Foundation, promotes communication in families, work and international relations by building understanding and action based on learning, shared experiences and growth. He also serves as a Muslim chaplain at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and is a doctoral candidate of ministry at Boston University. He served as an imam in Turkey and in Sydney, Australia, and was Muslim chaplain to Muslim inmates in the Department of Corrections in Sydney, Australia. He earned his bachelor’s of divinity from the University of Ankara in 1982, and master’s of theology from the University of Sydney in 1996.

Fournier, who gave the student address, said her academic journey of discovery has led her to her passion and her major – history. In the spring 2004 she began researching the impact of succeeding immigrant populations in Manchester utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. Her project, Mapping Manchester Neighborhoods: A Spatial Study of Work, Family, and Culture, created an historical spatial analysis of urban growth in Manchester based on census information from 1850, 1890 and 1920. Her curiosity and interest in knowing where people came from, why they came to Manchester and why they stayed provided ample motivation for her work as a 2004 recipient of a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. She worked closely with faculty mentor Robert Macieski, associate professor of history at UNHM.

Commencement guests had an opportunity to view a student art exhibit from the McDonough Elementary School and Central High School, part of Manchester’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers project.