Priscilla Villa of Central Falls Awarded Degree During Salve Regina University's 63rd Commencement

2013 May 21

Priscilla Villa of Central Falls, R.I. was awarded a bachelor of arts degree in Psychology cum laude during Salve Regina University's 63rd commencement on Sunday, May 19. Villa is recipient of the Peter Antone Service Award for Seniors. She also is a member of Psi Chi national honor society for psychology. She has been accepted into the graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Rhode Island.

Master stone carvers Nicholas W. Benson and his father John E. Benson, proprietors of Newport's centuries-old John Stevens Shop – the artists behind such works as the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the World War II Memorial and the John F. Kennedy Memorial – were presented with honorary degrees and offered remarks to the Salve Regina University community.

Sister Jane conferred 439 baccalaureate degrees, 191 master's degrees, 19 certificates of advanced graduate studies and six doctorates.

Salve Regina, a Catholic, co-educational university founded by the Sisters of Mercy, enrolls more than 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students. Its 80-acre oceanfront campus is in the heart of the Ochre Point-Cliffs National Historic District.