Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters will be given to Cheryl A. Seidner, Tribal Chair, Wiyot Tribe and a 28-year staff member of Humboldt State’s Educational Opportunity Program, and alumnus Michael Randolph Fielding (’57, ’63), an internationally recognized former senior partner of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, who helped create HSU’s Advancement Foundation.
Seidner’s work on behalf of indigenous communities is recognized across the country and she is a leader in fostering cooperative activism among American Indians at the regional, state and national level. She has served on the Executive Committee of the National Congress of American Indians and the Northern California Indian Development Council.
As Wiyot Tribal Chair, she oversaw the repatriation of Indian Island, a sacred site for her people, and was instrumental in bringing back the Wiyot young woman’s coming-of-age ceremony, which had not been held in more than a century. She helped organize what has become an annual candlelight vigil memorializing those who were massacred in 1860, which nearly exterminated the Wiyot Tribe. A published writer and poet whose work has appeared in the Humboldt Historian and News from Native California, Seidner has written books including “California Fault” and “Gold, Greed, and Genocide.” She has given lectures about the Wiyot people throughout California.
Fielding has had a distinguished career in international accounting and maintains a substantial and lasting connection to Humboldt State. During his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, he was a senior partner and led work with such Fortune 500 luminaries as the Ford Motor Company and Burlington Resources. He was among the first Americans to acquire International Certified Public Accountant certificates in Japan and Korea, an achievement that has been matched by very few. His many professional successes also included serving as the partner-in-charge of the company’s office in Tokyo.
Fielding earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Education with a Special Secondary Credential and a Master of Arts in Business from Humboldt State College, where he also served as president of Associated Students during his senior year. He has since remained involved in the growth and development of his alma mater, including serving as a member of the HSU Alumni Association Board. He was recognized in 1980 with a Distinguished Alumni Award for leadership in his field and service to the University.
Most recently, Fielding contributed considerable time and expertise to helping create the Humboldt State University Advancement Foundation, an auxiliary unit that promotes private giving to the University, and manages its endowment and other assets. He chaired the Advancement Foundation’s Board and his close work with the Office of University Advancement has enabled HSU to increase its assets and develop a cohesive fundraising program.
Commencement ceremonies will start at 8:30 a.m. in Redwood Bowl with the College of Natural Resources and Sciences. They will continue with the College of Professional Studies at noon and conclude with the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at 3: 30 p.m.
All three exercises will be broadcast live on Channel 12 beginning at 8:30 a.m.; they will be rebroadcast Saturday evening on the same channel, from 6:00 p.m.
Commencement 2008 also will be streamed live worldwide via high-speed Internet connections by the Arcata’s StreamGuys. A link to the Internet broadcast will be available from HSU’s Commerncement web site at http://www.humboldt.edu/~grad/broadcasts.html