Ja:göh Carson Waterman!
May 18, 2025 | Repost from sbu.edu
Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., S.T.D., was back on the stage she graced for more than a decade, giving sage advice to nearly 700 graduates of St. Bonaventure University.
“Choose your navigational stars with great care,” she said. “Seek the steady light of the public servant — elected or appointed — who puts the common good ahead of personal gain. Seek the searing light of honestly reported news, honestly written history, honestly calculated data about our national life.”
Sr. Carney, who was named president emerita in 2016 after serving 12 years as the university’s leader, was the keynote speaker and recipient of an honorary doctorate at the university’s 165th annual Commencement Exercises Sunday at Reilly Center Arena.
Also receiving an honorary degree Sunday, a Doctor of Fine Arts, was Carson Waterman (Snipe Clan, Ho’néhsi:yo’), the iconic artist from the Seneca Nation. The citation bestowing the degree was read by Seneca Nation Councillor Klint Nephew, a 1992 alumnus of St. Bonaventure.
“Carson’s work honors traditional stories and symbols, ensuring they are passed down to future generations,” Nephew said. “Carson has helped strengthen Seneca cultural pride and visibility, making him a treasured steward of Haudenosaunee traditions and a symbol of enduring Indigenous resilience.
A graduate of Gowanda High School, Waterman studied at Cooper School of Art in Cleveland. Upon graduation, he was drafted by the U.S. Army to serve with the 4th Infantry in Vietnam. He spent seven months on the battlefields before being reassigned to the division’s Public Information Office to create illustrations for the division’s newspapers. Upon returning from the war in 1970, Waterman spent four years teaching art at the Cleveland Museum of Art before returning to Salamanca. Since 1988, he has been self-employed as an artist and most recently, held a position of Artist in Residence at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum.
Waterman’s work can be found throughout the region, with notable installations at the Delavan-Canisius College subway station and Erie Basin Marina in Buffalo, Seneca Allegany Resort and Casino, the Allegany River and Chautauqua Lake rest areas on Interstate 86, as well as in community centers, schools, and fire halls.
Dr. Jeff Gingerich, university president, told the graduates their diplomas are more than just a piece of paper to advance their careers.
“As you step into the next chapter of your lives, you carry more than a degree — you carry a legacy. A Bona degree is a calling, not just a credential. It signifies a commitment to lifting others up and to living with moral clarity in a time that so often lacks it,” he said.
“The world you enter is increasingly fractured — by political division, by social injustice, by economic inequality. But where others see discord, I challenge you to be the bridge-builders.”
Read more HERE.
The program from the ceremony, complete with all the graduates and academic award winners, can be found HERE.
