NSU Commencement - Graduate 2017

24 D istinguished H onoree C ommencement S peaker for A fternoon C eremony David Lawrence, Jr. , is the retired publisher of the Miami Herald . Since retiring from a 35-year career in journalism in 1999, his passion has been early childhood development and readiness. A graduate of the University of Florida, where he was named the Outstanding Journalism Graduate, Lawrence completed the advanced management program at Harvard Business School. He holds 13 honorary doctorates, including one from his alma mater. Lawrence was the founding chair of the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade and Monroe counties and is currently the chair of The Children’s Movement of Florida, which aims to make children the state’s top priority for investment and decision-making. In 2002 and 2008, he led successful campaigns for The Children’s Trust, a dedicated source of funding for early intervention and prevention in Miami-Dade County. He was also a key figure in passing a statewide constitutional amendment to provide prekindergarten for all four-year-olds. An endowed chair in early childhood studies has been established in Lawrence’s name at the University of Florida’s College of Education. Additionally, the David Lawrence, Jr., K–8 Center, a public school in North Miami with a state-of-the-art marine and science technology theme, opened in 2006. During his tenure as publisher at the Miami Herald , the newspaper won five Pulitzer Prizes. Before moving to Miami in 1989, Lawrence was publisher and executive editor of the Detroit Free Press , editor at the Charlotte Observer , and had worked as a reporter and editor at four other newspapers. In 2010, Lawrence was inducted into the Florida Newspaper Hall of Fame. During his career in journalism, he was awarded the Knight-Ridder John S. Knight Gold Medal, the First Amendment Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation, and the Inter American Press Association Commentary Award. Lawrence is a former president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and of the Inter American Press Association. He received the Ida B. Wells Award for exemplary leadership in providing minorities with employment opportunities and the National Association of Minority Media Executives Award for lifetime achievement in diversity. Some of Lawrence’s other numerous honors include the Bob Graham Center for Public Service Citizen of the Year, James W. McLamore Outstanding Volunteer Award, American Public Health Association Award of Excellence, Children’s Champion from the National Black Child Development Institute, National Association for Bilingual Education Award for building early literary skills for all children, and the American Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year Award. Lawrence has served as chairperson at the Miami Art Museum, United Way, and the New World School of the Arts. He is a life member of the University of Florida Foundation and serves on the national boards of the Everglades Foundation and Americans for Immigrant Justice. Lawrence was the local convening cochair of the 1994 Summit of the Americas. He is the cofounder of a nonprofit vocational-technical school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.