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Commencement Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipient<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nJoseph W. Westphal \u201970, PhD<\/strong>, is a distinguished scholar, diplomat and public servant whose career spans decades of consequential service across government and academia. Dr. Westphal served as <\/span>U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia<\/span><\/a> from 2014 to 2017 and as <\/span>Under Secretary of the Army and Chief Management Officer<\/span><\/a> from 2009 to 2014, among other senior roles in five presidential administrations from Carter through Obama. He has led institutions including the University of Maine System as Chancellor and held faculty and administrative posts at Georgetown, the New School, and Oklahoma State University. He currently serves as <\/span>Senior Global Fellow at the Joseph H. Lauder Institute<\/span><\/a> at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania as well as <\/span>Senior Fellow at Wharton\u2019s Center for Leadership and Change Management<\/span><\/a>. He also holds fellowships with the National Academy of Public Administration, the Foreign Policy Research Institute and the American Academy of Diplomacy.<\/span><\/p>\n Serena Martin \u201905<\/strong>, is founder and executive director of <\/span>New Hour for Women and Children<\/span><\/a>, which provides programs and reentry support for justice impacted women across Long Island and Riker’s Island jails and within New York State prisons. She also leads statewide policy reform efforts for criminal-justice impacted women and will also receive an honorary degree at the undergraduate ceremony. A tireless advocate for carceral reform across New York State, Martin has championed landmark legislation including the <\/span>Anti-Shackling Law<\/span><\/a> prohibiting the shackling of incarcerated mothers during labor. She serves on Governor Hochul’s NYS Domestic Violence Task Force and has contributed to multiple statewide reform initiatives. A survivor of isolated confinement, she earned her bachelor’s degree from 成人动漫网站 and is the recipient of numerous honors, including the St. John\u2019s University <\/span>2024 Elizabeth Ann Seton Medal<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Christopher Pappas \u201981<\/strong>, is founder, chairman, president and chief executive officer of <\/span>The Chefs’\u200b Warehouse<\/span><\/a>, a premier specialty food distributor serving top chefs, restaurants and hospitality professionals across North America and the Middle East. After graduating with a degree in Business Administration and competing as a varsity basketball player at Adelphi, he played professionally in Europe\u2014an experience that helped inspire his entrepreneurial path. In 1985, he co-founded The Chefs’ Warehouse, and under his guidance, the company has grown into a respected publicly traded enterprise, navigating defining challenges including 9\/11, the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Pappas has served on the boards of the <\/span>International Foodservice Distributors Association<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Hudson National Golf Club<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Paul Akian \u201964<\/strong>, is a technologist, entrepreneur and philanthropist whose career spans aerospace, defense and global manufacturing. After earning his Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at Adelphi, Akian contributed to <\/span>NASA’s Apollo Program<\/span><\/a> and built and led multiple successful enterprises over five decades, including <\/span>Western Filter<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Integra Technologies<\/span><\/a>, serving clients such as the U.S. Armed Forces, NASA, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Through the <\/span>Akian Family Foundation<\/span><\/a>, he has made significant investments in educational and cultural institutions, including the American University of Armenia, whose College of Science & Engineering bears his family name. He previously served on Adelphi’s Board of Trustees and has been recognized with significant humanitarian honors from the Armenian Church and the President of Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n 2026 Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipients Undergraduate Ceremony Joseph W. Westphal \u201970, PhD Commencement Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipient Joseph W. Westphal \u201970, PhD, is a distinguished scholar, diplomat and public servant whose career spans decades of consequential service across government and academia. Dr. Westphal served as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":16,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-56","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"Serena Martin \u201905<\/h4>\n
![\"Serena](\"https:\/\/www.adelphi.edu\/commencement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2026\/04\/Serena-Martin-300x300.png\")
Honorary Degree Recipient<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nGraduate Ceremony<\/h3>\n
Christopher Pappas \u201981<\/h4>\n
![\"Christopher](\"https:\/\/www.adelphi.edu\/commencement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2026\/04\/Christopher-Pappas-300x300.png\")
Commencement Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipient<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nPaul Akian \u201964<\/h4>\n
![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.adelphi.edu\/commencement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2026\/04\/Paul-Akian-300x300.png\")
Honorary Degree Recipient<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
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