Profs Grady and Grady eyeing two special grads

Do things go better in twos?

Dr. Michael Grady and his wife, Carolyn, will be able to answer that question most definitely following SUNY Fredonia’s afternoon commencement. That’s because they will watch two of their children – Rebecca and Devin – shake the hand of their own boss, President Dennis Hefner, on the stage at Steele Hall.

Rebecca will receive a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Summa Cum Laude, at the morning Commencement. She was named to the Golden Key International Honour Society and to Alpha Kappa Delta, the national sociology honor society.

Her younger brother – they’re four years apart in age -- will be awarded a bachelor’s degree in Computer and Information Sciences, also Summa Cum Laude, at the afternoon Commencement. He has been a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, and was also named to the Sigma Pi Sigma national physics honor society. He will also graduate with Honors in Liberal Education.

Their father, currently on sabbatical, is chair of the Department of Physics, while their mother serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of English.

This won’t be the first time that an offspring from the Gradys will embrace a SUNY Fredonia sheepskin. Their first son, Nathaniel, graduated in 2002. He is presently in his sixth year of graduate study in the Ph.D. program at Rice Quantum Institute.

These proud parents appreciate the educational opportunities and faculty connections that SUNY Fredonia has extended to all three of their children. “We love Fredonia; it is a very nurturing and supportive place for students, and they have done so well here,” Mrs. Grady said. “Any student that goes to Fredonia can end up going anywhere.”

The Grady brother and sister will continue their education beyond SUNY Fredonia. Devin will enter the Ph.D. program in the Department of Computer Science at Rice University. He has been awarded a graduate fellowship from Rice and a fellowship from Texas Instruments. He will begin working in the robotics lab at Rice in July.

Rebecca is also on the doctorate track. She will continue studies in sociology at the University of Indiana – Bloomington, where she been guaranteed a teaching assistantship for five years. Before moving to Bloomington in August, she will continue working at Daniel Reed Library, where she first worked as a high school senior. She’s been on staff there for the last three years. Rebecca recently completed a research project on health assessment in Chautauqua County for Dr. Linda Dorsten, professor of Sociology and Anthropology at SUNY Fredonia.

The Grady family moved to Fredonia in 1987, when Dr. Grady accepted a teaching position and Devin was less than a year old. All three Grady children are graduates of Fredonia Central School. The family spent one year in India, where the children attended an American school in Bombay. Rebecca also spent her junior year of high school studying in Japan.