Richard Gigliotti, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, hoods Joseph and Elda Coccia upon the couple receiving an honorary degree at the College's convocation on May 15. "This is a milestone in our life that neither one of us...had the opportunity to achieve," said Joseph Coccia, who, with Elda, founded the Joseph and Elda Coccia Institute for the Italian Experience in America, located on campus.

"We consider it a privilege to be here today, to stand with several hundred students whose challenges over the past four years seemed, I'm sure, to be overwhelming at times," Joseph said. "But today you are graduates, and all that is in the past."

Joseph encouraged the students to use the critical thinking skills they learned at Montclair State to "make decisions that will determine the course of your individual lives."

He also left them with this advice: "Make every decision as if it will be reflected in tomorrow's headlines. If those envisioned headlines are acceptable, then you can be confident you made the right choice."

The Coccias with MSU President Susan A. Cole and Board of Trustees member Scott Williams.