Concordia Bestows Honorary Degrees
Dr. Gary Yia Lee - Doctor of Letters
Dr. Gary Yia Lee taught social welfare history, social services, gender studies, social policy and philosophy at the college level from 1974 to 1987. From 1987 to 2000, Lee was an officer for the Ethnic Affairs Commission of New South Wales. He has served in various positions for the Lao Studies Society and is the founding president of the Lao Students Association in Australia. Lee has published many of his writings about the Hmong. Aside from research and teaching, some of Lee’s professional interests include community studies and development, conflict resolution, migration and cultural innovation, youth welfare, bilingual education, welfare sociology, oral history, and social theory.
He received his B.A. and M.A. in social work from University of New South Wales and his Ph.D. in social anthropology in 1980 from University of Sydney. Concordia honored Dr. Lee with the Eagle Award in 2006 for his lifetime contribution to Hmong studies. Lee serves as a scholar-in-residence in the Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University, St. Paul.
David Walsh, Ph.D. - Doctor of Humane Letters
David Walsh, Ph.D. has emerged as one of the world’s leading authorities on parenting and the impact of media on children’s health and development. He spent 10 years teaching and coaching high school students before joining Fairview Health Services in Minneapolis to develop and direct innovative counseling programs for youth and families. In 1995, he founded and still serves as president of the internationally renowned National Institute on Media and the Family providing parents, teachers, and other adults information about media through education, research, and advocacy.He has authored nine books, including the national best seller “Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen.” Walsh has authored columns on numerous topics, including Internet addiction and the dangers of MySpace.com. His columns have appeared in newspapers nationwide, including the Washington Post. Walsh has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, Good Morning America, The CBS Early Show, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Dateline NBC, ABC’s 20/20, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition, and has been featured on three nationally broadcast PBS specials.
Walsh is a licensed psychologist in the State of Minnesota, a faculty member at the University of Minnesota and is active in many professional associations. He received his B.A. from Mt. Carmel College, his M.A. from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, and his Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota. He and his wife Monica live in Minneapolis and have three adult children.
James C. Kielsmeier - Doctor of Laws
National Youth Leadership Council founder, president and CEO James C. Kielsmeier has committed his life to transforming the roles of young people in society. Kielsmeier has been engaged in the design and implementation of comprehensive state and federal youth service and service-learning models since 1984. He has advised three Minnesota governors, helped U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger write the 1990 National Community Service Act, advised the Clinton Administration’s transition team on AmeriCorps, and testified before the Minnesota House and Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. Kielsmeier also helped initiate the nonprofit African Reconciliation and Development Corps International, and led its first project in Somalia during the civil war in 1993.
Kielsmeier’s work is rooted in his time as a youth worker in Harlem, a U.S. Army Infantry platoon leader and community relations officer in Korea, a middle and high school teacher in Washington D.C., and an Outward Bound instructor in Colorado and at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.
Kielsmeier is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota, where he founded the Center for Experiential Education and Service-Learning. He holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of Colorado, a M.A. in international relations from American University in Washington, D.C., and a B.A. in zoology from Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill. Kielsmeier is married to Rev. Deborah Eng Kielsmeier and is the father of three daughters.
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