The Committee
The first Heritage Committee, formed in 1979, was asked “to recover and preserve an accurate record of the roots from which this institution and its various divisions have grown,” according to an early pamphlet published through its efforts.
Then-President Thomas A. Fulham appointed the committee of longtime University employees and editors in anticipation of the 75th Anniversary Jubilee in 1981.
The committee set to work to retrieve the University’s history from primary sources, which entailed archival research, questionnaires, and the collection of oral histories.
The Heritage Project committee’s ultimate product appeared in 1982: the bound volume, "Opportunity’s Open Door."
The committee also selected noteworthy members of the University community to be honored with Heritage Medallions commemorating their service to the University.
The Heritage Committee took on renewed significance leading up to the University’s Centennial in 2006, and its Heritage Medallion Awards Ceremony has become an annual September event.
Heritage Medallion Recipients
The University’s Heritage Committee has taken the lead in identifying major participants in the University’s history and honoring them with Heritage Medallions.
The following significant contributors to Suffolk University have been honored with Heritage Medallions since they were introduced in 1981, with length of service and quality of contribution considered when choosing honorees:
September 19, 1981
Gleason L. Archer, Suffolk University founder and President
Carrolla A. Bryant, University Executive Secretary, Registrar for Colleges
Frank J. Donahue, Treasurer, Trustees Chair
John E. Fenton, Sr., University President, Trustees Chair
Catharine Caraher Finnegan, Gleason Archer’s Secretary
John Griffin, Life Trustee, Registrar for Colleges
Dorothy M. McNamara, Bursar, Alumni Secretary
November 18, 1982
Ilse M. Fang, Humanities and Modern Language faculty
Catherine Fehrer, Humanities and Modern Languages faculty
Donald W. Goodrich, Vice President, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Ella M. Murphy, English, Humanities and Modern Languages faculty
John F.X. O'Brien, Law School faculty
Florence R. Petherick, Humanities and Modern Languages faculty
Donald R. Simpson, Law School Dean
Frank L. Simpson, Law School Dean
April 22, 1983
Robert S. Friedman, Biology Chair, Founder/Donor of Robert S. Friedman Field Station, Cobscook Bay, Maine
September 19, 1983
Charles Law, Director of Athletics
Richard J. Sullivan, University Librarian
October 17, 1984
Hiram J. Archer, First full-time faculty member, Trustee, Gleason Archer’s brother
Thomas A. Fulham, University President
December 7, 1987
Rexford A. Bristol, Trustee, Honorary Doctor of Commercial Science
Donald Grunewald, Vice President, First Dean of the College of Business Administration
Harold M. Stone, Sawyer Business School faculty
April 19, 1988
Edward G. Hartmann, History faculty, Director of Libraries
P. Richard Jones, Alumnus, Archives, Mailroom
Stanley M. Vogel, English Department faculty
April 24, 1990
John F. Lombard, Law School adjunct faculty
Alfred I. Maleson, Law School Professor Emeritus
Joseph H. Strain, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean
Arthur J. West, II, Biology Chair, Professor Emeritus
September 21, 2004
H. Edward Clark, English faculty, Founded Collection of African American Literature
Benson Diamond, Sawyer Business School faculty
Malcolm M. Donahue, Law School Dean, faculty
Mary A. Hefron, Registrar for Colleges
September 19, 2005
Alexander J. Cella, Law School faculty
John M. Corcoran, Trustee
Catherine T. Judge, Law School faculty, Law School Registrar
Richard L. McDowell, Sawyer Business School Dean, Director of the Center for State Government Management
Michael R. Ronayne, Jr., College of Arts and Sciences Dean, faculty
Margaret Collins Weitz, College of Arts and Sciences Professor Emerita
September 19, 2006
Thomas J. Boynton*, Trustees Chair
John E. Fenton, Jr., Law School Dean
Francis X. Flannery, University Treasurer and Vice President
Jeanne M. Hession, Trustee
David J. Sargent, Law School Dean, University President
September 19, 2007
Clarence Cooper, Executive-in-Residence, Sawyer Business School faculty
George A. Frost*, Benefactor to University founder Gleason Archer, Trustee
Frederick A. McDermott*, Law School Dean
Maria Miliora, Chemistry faculty
Daniel Perlman*, University President
Daniel Sankowsky, Sawyer Business School faculty
September 17, 2008
William Coughlin, Director of Admissions
Herbert Lemelman, Associate Dean, Law faculty
Robert Munce*, University President
Alexandra Dundas Todd, Sociology faculty
September 16, 2009
Nancy Clemens Croll*, Director of Academic Computing, Sawyer Business School faculty
Beatrice L. Snow, Biology Chair, faculty
Lorraine DiPietro Cove, Assistant Dean and Registrar, Law School
September 21, 2010
Kenneth F. Garni, Director of the Counseling Center; Chair of Psychological Services
Marjorie C. Kelleher*, Director, Adult and Evening Studies, Enrollment Management
Charles P. Kindregan, Associate Dean; Director of the Center for Professional Development, Law School faculty
James F. Linnehan*, Trustees Chair; Life Trustee
September 20, 2011
Warren G. Briggs, Information Systems and Operations Management faculty
Lawrence L. Cameron, Life Trustee
Louis B. Connelly*, Director of Public Relations and Sports Information
Glen A. Eskedal, Education and Human Services faculty
Joseph P. McEttrick, Law faculty
September 19, 2012
Patricia I. Brown*, Associate Law School Librarian Emerita
John P. Chase*, Life Trustee
Michael F. Dwyer, Assistant Treasurer
Laurie W. Pant, Professor and Chair, Accounting
Donald M. Unger, Professor and Chair, Education and Human Services
* Posthumous award
