On May 10, in front of friends, family and the entire Chestnut Hill College community, the class of 2014 became the newest Griffin alumni as the College celebrated its 87th Commencement ceremony.

In all, 634 students were graduated with 368 receiving bachelor's of arts (BA), science (BS) or music (BM) degrees, 245 receiving master's degrees and 21 graduate students earning their Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.)

Tracy Davidson, local consumer reporter, anchor and award-winning journalist for NBC-10 Philadelphia, offered simple yet memorable words in her address. Using the Sara Bareilles song as inspiration, Davidson encouraged all of the graduates to strive for their dreams and goals and through it all, to just "be brave."

In addition to offering the commencement address, Davidson also received a master's degree for holistic spirituality as well as an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees were awarded to C. Maury Devine '72, who served as chairperson of the board, president and managing director at ExxonMobil Norway Inc., from 1996 until her retirement in 2000, and Rita Schwartz '63, who has tirelessly served as an advocate for Catholic education and who currently is president of both the Association of Catholic School Teachers (ACT) and the National Association of Catholic School Teachers (NACT).

Meredith Kneavel, Ph.D., associate professor of  psychology, received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. The award is given to a distinguished teacher who is "committed to the life of the mind and spirit, is intellectually stimulating, challenging and accessible, and devoted to the temporal and eternal well-being of students." The Lindback Award is selected from a committee of students, faculty and staff at the College. Dr. Kneavel was chosen as this year's honoree because of meeting the criteria and for both her dedication to her students and her passion for teaching.