Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta to Speak at Commencement
Monday, May 7, 2018
State Secretary Rosalin Acosta will be the keynote speaker at Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC)’s 44th Commencement exercises, on Saturday, May 19, 2018, on the Charlestown Campus.
“Secretary Acosta can understand the challenges faced by many of our students,” said BHCC President Pam Eddinger. “She shares the passion of promoting pathways into the workforce through education and training.”
BHCC is committed to aligning its programs and curriculum to regional workforce development needs. In December 2017, the Baker-Polito Administration and the STEM Advisory Council awarded the Boston Private Industry Council (PIC) a grant to advance work-based learning for students at Madison Park Vocational High School and BHCC by convening local companies that hire young people for internships.
This grant came on the heels of a $247,566 Workforce Skills Capital Grant to support the College’s General Sonography and Cardiac Sonography programs. The Workforce Skills Capital Grants program was created by the Baker-Polito Administration in 2016 to assist education institutions in demonstrating partnerships with industry and aligning curriculum and credentials with local businesses’ demand, maximizing planning objectives and hiring or internship opportunities regionally.
Acosta is a recognized leader, public speaker and cultural ambassador on matters of diversity, motivating youth and Latino Leadership. She was named among Boston’s Most Influential Women by the Women of the Harvard Club, El Planeta’s Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in Massachusetts and Get Konnected’s 100 Most Influential People of Color in Boston.
Before joining the Baker-Polito administration, Acosta gained respect as a financial and banking service professional. She has more than 30 years of experience at Greater Boston financial institutions, and has served in many community and civic capacities.
Born in Cuba, Acosta came to the United States at the age of four. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University in Connecticut where she was a member of the Women’s Varsity Ice Hockey Team. She is the proud mother of five children.
Bunker Hill Community College is the largest community college in Massachusetts, enrolling approximately 19,000 students annually. BHCC has two campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, three satellite locations and a number of instructional centers throughout the Greater Boston area. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in Massachusetts. Sixty-five percent of the students are people of color and more than half of BHCC's students are women. The College also enrolls nearly 1,000 international students who come from 100 countries and speak more than 75 languages.
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About Bunker Hill Community College
With more than 50 years of academic excellence, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is Massachusetts' largest community college, annually welcoming a diverse community of around 16,000 students. With campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, BHCC extends its reach across several locations in Greater Boston. The College offers associate degrees and certificates, early college and dual enrollment, community education, corporate training, and industry-specific training programs. BHCC is celebrated for its diversity, boasting a student body where 65% identify as people of color and more than half are women. The College also embraces a global perspective, with over 600 international students representing 90 countries and conversing in more than 65 languages. Our commitment to diversity is further reflected in BHCC's designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).