Two Alumni Receive Honorary Degrees at 2018 Commencement

Two distinguished alumni of SUNY Oswego, Christene Barberich ’91, global editor-in-chief and a co-founder of award-winning lifestyle media company Refinery 29, and Robert E. (Bob) Moritz ’85, global chairman of PwC, received Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees on May 12 at SUNY Oswego’s 157th Commencement.

Barberich started the award-winning lifestyle media company in 2005 from an initial investment of $5,000 and a 750-square-foot apartment. Little more than a decade later, Inc. magazine placed the New York-based multimedia platform’s value at $500 million.

“Life will inevitably not unfold the way you’re expecting it to … It will be in those challenging, life-altering moments that you will wake up to your own life with courage and grace. And you will actively choose your own version of success,” she told graduates during the Commencement ceremony for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Moritz has strived to boost the opportunities of others as he has risen to ever more responsible leadership positions at PwC. An internationally respected leader of a global network of more than 236,000 people in 157 countries, Moritz has encouraged innovation, welcomed different perspectives, challenged the status quo and led by example, emphasizing team over individual interests.

“What Oswego taught me … potential has the possibility to be realized, and you’re in a much better position than I ever was to realize your personal full potential,” he said to School of Business graduates in his Commencement address.

Google’s Head of Digital Imaging Group for Brand Marketing and Hardware Jeff Hoefer ’80 (featured here) delivered the Commencement address to students in the School of Education and the School of Communication, Media and the Arts.