May 03, 2021
Dr. Laurie Santos, host of The Happiness Lab podcast, to present commencement address to Class of 2021
By Vicki-Ann Downing
Dr. Laurie Santos, a Yale University psychology professor and host of the popular The Happiness Lab podcast, will be the featured speaker at Providence College’s 103rd Commencement Exercises on Thursday, May 20, 2021, at 11 a.m.
For the first time since 1975, the ceremony will be held on campus, on Hendricken Field, with a limited number of guests to conform with state COVID-19 regulations. The College will hold a separate ceremony for School of Continuing Education and graduate students on Friday, May 21, at 6 p.m., also on Hendricken Field.
Santos will be one of five honorary degree recipients. The others are Duane Bouligny ’94, PC trustee emeritus and managing director/leveraged finance, Wells Fargo Securities; John Chan ’74, restaurateur, impresario of live music in Southern New England, painter, and photographer; Emily D. Leary, humanitarian and philanthropist; and Edward James Mulcahy Jr. ’66, trustee emeritus and retired managing director/complex manager, Morgan Stanley.
Santos will receive an honorary doctor of science degree. Since September 2019, she has hosted The Happiness Lab, a podcast in which she shares surprising and inspiring stories that alter the way listeners think about happiness. The podcast examines the latest scientific research on factors affecting well-being and happiness. Santos has discovered in her research that many of us do exactly the opposite of what will make our lives better. The Happiness Lab has more than 35 million downloads and peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Podcasts Chart.
Her course, Psychology and the Good Life, is the most popular course at Yale in more than 300 years, with more than one of four current students enrolled. Santos teaches how the science of psychology can provide hints about how to make wiser choices and live a happier and more fulfilling life. She also is head of Silliman College, Yale’s largest residential college, and director of the university’s Comparative Cognition Laboratory and the Canine Cognition Center.
A native of New Bedford, Mass., she studied psychology at Harvard University after graduating from New Bedford High School. As a sophomore research assistant, she traveled to Cayo Santiago, a small island off Puerto Rico, where her studies of the monkey population inspired her interest in the psychology of animals. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and biology, magna cum laude with highest distinction, from Harvard in 1997 and a master’s degree in 2001. She was awarded a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard in 2003.
Santos has won numerous awards for her science and her teaching. She resides on Yale’s campus in New Haven, Conn., with her husband, philosopher Mark Maxwell.
Bouligny will receive an honorary doctor of business administration degree. At Wells Fargo Securities in San Francisco, he manages the specialized industries debt capital markets team, which structures and organizes loan syndications and high-yield financings, primarily for the gaming industry. He also has managed teams for Wells Fargo covering the energy, forest products, and beverage industries.
Bouligny was a member of the College’s Board of Trustees from 2011-2020 and was awarded emeritus status upon his retirement. In November 2017, with trustee Andre Owens ’85, he was co-chair of the inaugural Reflecting Forward: A Celebration of Multiculturalism and Diversity, held in the newly renovated Center at Moore Hall. In recognition of the generosity of Bouligny and his wife, Nancy, the Bouligny Lounge in the Center at Moore Hall was named in their honor. Bouligny also co-hosted the second Reflecting Forward celebration in 2020.
A graduate of Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford, Conn., Bouligny was awarded an MLK Scholarship to attend PC. He lives in Greenbrea, Calif., with his wife and three children.
Chan will receive a doctor of fine arts degree. At his restaurant, Chan’s Fine Oriental Dining in Woonsocket, R.I., he has offered some of the finest jazz, blues, folk, cabaret, and comedy performances in the country since 1977. In honor of his contributions in launching the international careers of Rhode Island performers, Chan was inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame in 2018.
His connections through the restaurant resulted in a friendship with the Farrelly brothers through their father, Robert Farrelly, M.D. ’52. Chan had a speaking role in the 1983 film Stuck on You; a cameo in Me, Myself, and Irene; and played the owner of a Chinese restaurant in the final episode of the second season of Brotherhood, the Showtime series filmed in Providence. He is an artist who has taken photography classes at PC and studies drawing and painting at the Providence Art Club.
Chan is a native of Hong Kong who came to the United States with his family as a child. He is a resident of Woonsocket and has a son and grandson.
Leary will receive an honorary bachelor of science degree. With her husband, Hon. William C. Leary ’60, ’10Hon., a retired probate court judge in Connecticut and PC trustee emeritus, she has lived a life of philanthropy that has benefited the College and her local community.
The couple’s generosity has transformed the women’s ice hockey program into one of the best in the country. Emily was awarded the St. Joseph Medal by the Diocese of Hartford for her efforts on behalf of her parish, Mary Gate of Heaven in Windsor Locks. She volunteers extensively in her community. She was a member of the board of directors at Enfield Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen for 10 years and served as treasurer for seven years. She assists the Windsor Locks social services director with Project Elf, helping to obtain gifts for needy children at Christmas.
She has an associate degree from Katharine Gibbs School and worked at The Hartford Courant and in her husband’s law office. She was a founding member and two-term president of the North Connecticut Women’s Legal Assistant Association.
The Learys reside in Windsor Locks.
Mulcahy will receive an honorary doctor of business administration degree. He retired in 2014 after three decades in wealth management at Smith Barney, where he managed a team of 200 employees and four businesses with assets under management totaling $24 billion.
Mulcahy served on the PC Board of Trustees from 2000-2008 and was awarded emeritus status upon retirement. He was inaugural chair of the College’s National Board of Overseers from 2009-2020 and is immediate past chair. He received the Personal Achievement Award from the National Alumni Association in 2016 in recognition of his service to the College.
Mulcahy also was a member of the Economic Council for the Dominican Friars Province of St. Joseph.
An economics major at PC, Mulcahy received an MBA from Boston College in 1970 and a certificate in advanced management from MIT’s Sloan School of Management in 1979. Mulcahy and his wife, Kathryn, reside in Hobe Sound, Fla., and Osterville, Mass., and are the parents of four, including Edward James Mulcahy III ’96 and Kathryn Mulcahy Godino ’01.
At the graduate and SCE commencement ceremony, the guest speaker will be Adam Benjamin ’91, the CEO and co-founder of UpperCampus, a career discovery organization that connects high school and college students with universities and employers that match their career goals. Prior to that, he was group director at Facebook, where he helped build the global customer service marketing team.
In 2016, Benjamin and his wife, Meg Howley Benjamin ’91, endowed the Benjamin Family Social Media Fellowship Program to give students the opportunity to gain real-world experience marketing the PC School of Business using the school’s social media channels. The Benjamins reside in White Plains, N.Y., with their three children, who include Aidan Benjamin ’23.
A Commencement Mass will take place on Wednesday, May 19, at 4:30 p.m. on Hendricken Field. In the event of rain, events scheduled for Hendricken Field will move to the Peterson Recreation Center.
The ROTC Commissioning Ceremony will take place on Friday, May 21, at 2 p.m. at the War Memorial Grotto. In case of rain, the ceremony will be held in St. Dominic Chapel.
All graduates and guests are encouraged to visit the commencement website for information.
The Class of 2020 will be honored during Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 1-3, on campus.
