Jefferson’s College of Health Professions (CHP) will present honorary degrees to Ed Snider (left), Chairman of Comcast Spectacor, L.P., and Samuel O. Thier, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Partners HealthCare System, Inc., at Commencement Exercises on Friday, May 14 at 10:30 a.m. at the Academy of Music.

The class of ’99 is composed of 313 graduates, which includes 289 bachelor of science degree recipients, 15 post-baccalaureate certificate recipients and nine associate degree graduates of the CHP Department of General Studies.

At the Commencement ceremony, Jack Farber, Chairman of Jefferson’s Board of Trustees, will confer the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree on Mr. Snider, whose organization includes two ice hockey teams, the NHL Philadelphia Flyers and the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms, the NBA 76ers basketball team, the First Union Center, the First Union Spectrum, and Comcast SportsNet, a regional sports television network, in partnership with the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team. Mr. Snider will be cited for his contributions to the community.

CHP’s Chairman of the Department of Occupational Therapy, Janice P. Burke, OTR/L, PhD, FAOTA, will confer the honorary Doctor of Science degree on Dr. Thier, who heads the Boston-based Partners HealthCare System, Inc., founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Thier, who is also a Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, is a nationally known, widely published authority on internal medicine and kidney disease and is equally well known for his expertise in the areas of national health policy, medical education and biomedical research. Dr. Thier has served as President of Brandeis University, 1991-94, and President of Massachusetts General Hospital, 1994-97.

University President Paul C. Brucker, MD, will confer the student degrees. CHP Dean Lawrence Abrams, EdD, will address the graduates and their families and friends, and CHP Senior Associate Dean Linda G. Kraemer, PhD, will serve as Grand Marshall.

Of the baccalaureate degree graduates, 150 are in nursing, 42 in occupational therapy, 24 in diagnostic imaging, 24 in the laboratory sciences of biotechnology, cytogenetic technology, cytotechnology, and medical technology, and two in allied health. Counted among the graduates are 47 physical therapy students who will complete their combined BS-MS degree program during the summer. The 15 post-baccalaureate certificate graduates are in laboratory sciences.

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