BINGHAMTON, NY – More than 400 of the 821 students who completed their degree requirements in summer or fall will walk across the stage at Binghamton University’s 2014 Fall Commencement ceremony at noon Sunday, Dec. 14, in the Events Center, on the University campus. Of the 429 students walking across the Events Center stage, 307 will receive baccalaureate degrees, 97 will receive master’s degrees and 25 will be hooded as they receive their doctorates.

The ceremony will include remarks from internationally known economist and educator Ronald G. Ehrenberg, a 1966 graduate of Binghamton University and the Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Economics at Cornell University, where he is also director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute. In 2008, Ehrenberg was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree by Binghamton University in recognition of his many accomplishments. He has served as an elected member of the Cornell Board of Trustees and currently serves as a member of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

Two students will represent their fellow graduates during the ceremony. Samara Matityahu, a senior psychology major with a minor in studio art, will represent the undergraduates; Trisha Cowen, a PhD candidate in English with a creative dissertation, will speak on behalf of graduate students.

A native of New Rochelle, N.Y., Matityahu transferred to Binghamton from Westchester Community College. She has studied abroad in Israel and has been an active member of Hillel-Jewish Student Union and Chabad on campus, a student ambassador for Undergraduate Admissions and heavily involved with her residential communities – Dickinson and Newing.

Speaking at Commencement feels like a dream, Matityahu said. "It means being recognized as a leader among my peers, representing an accomplished class of graduates and being one of them, and it means being recognized for who I am and how I want to represent myself as a college graduate from Binghamton University," she said. "It's a dream that I hope I can inspire others still in school to want to achieve."

Matityahu’s plans following graduation are not set in stone, but she hopes to be living in New York City, working toward an art therapy internship, and to be in graduate school for social work and art therapy. 

Cowen earned her bachelor of fine arts in writing, literature and publishing from Emerson College in Boston before enrolling in Binghamton’s master’s program in English, receiving her MA with a concentration in creative writing in 2010. She has taught courses in creative writing, Native American literature and culture, American literature, and literature of the supernatural.

"It is truly an honor to speak at graduation," Cowen said. "It is important to me to give thanks to the Binghamton community and to celebrate the tremendous accomplishments of the graduating class."