Father Dennis Dease, president of St. Thomas, will receive an honorary degree from St. Catherine University at its winter commencement exercises Thursday.
St. Catherine will confer a Doctor of Humane Letters degree upon Dease, who has served as president since 1991 and will retire on June 30, 2013. The ceremony will be at 7 p.m. in O’Shaughnessy Auditorium, and Dease also will preside at the baccalaureate liturgy at 5 p.m. in Our Lady of Victory Chapel.
A St. Catherine story cites Dease’s accomplishments during his presidency, including two capital campaigns that raised $765 million and the establishment of the School of Law, Center for Catholic Studies and a Rome campus. He received the National Catholic Education Association’s highest honor, the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Award, in 2008.
St. Thomas conferred a Doctor of Humane Letters degree upon Sister Andrea Lee, president of St. Catherine since 1998, in December 2009.
