Sarah Holfelder of Bethel Awarded Degree During Salve Regina University's 63rd Commencement

2013 May 21

Sarah Averyl Holfelder of Bethel, Conn. was awarded a bachelor of science degree in Special Education during Salve Regina University's 63rd commencement on Sunday, May 19. Holfelder is a member of Sigma Beta Delta national honor society for business students exhibiting good moral character.

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.