Campus news Head of Boston FBI Office Rick DesLauriers ’82 Named Commencement Speaker Stephen Knott, Ph.D. ’79 and Ray Lauring to Receive Honorary Degrees Richard DesLauriers ’82, special agent in charge of FBI’s Boston Field Division, will deliver the address at the College’s 96th Commencement exercises on May 11. During the ceremony, he will also receive an honorary doctorate of laws. DesLauriers leads more than 500 FBI agents, intelligence analysts and professional support personnel responsible for the investigation of terrorism, espionage and criminal matters in this geographic region, including Maine, richard Deslauriers ’82 Mass., N.H. and R.I. He joined the FBI in 1987, spending much of his career in counterintelligence, and has worked in Alabama, New York, Washington, D.C. and Boston. Prior to his 2010 appointment to Boston, he served as deputy assistant director of the Counterintelligence Division at FBI headquarters. He was responsible for nationwide counterintelligence operations and espionage investigations. A native of Longmeadow, Mass., he holds a B.A. in politics from Assumption and a J.D. degree from The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. DesLauriers served as guest speaker at Assumption’s 2011 Honors Convocation and received the Fr. Louis Dion, A.A. ’35 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Assumption Alumni Association last year. He and wife Christine have a son and reside in southeastern Mass. Also receiving honorary degrees are author/historian/college professor Stephen Knott, Ph.D. ’79 (doctorate of letters) and longtime College friend and benefactor Raymond Lauring (doctorate of humane letters). Knott is a professor of national security affairs at the United States Naval War College in Newport, RI. He previously served as co-chair of the University of Virginia’s Presidential Oral History Program and directed the Ronald Reagan Oral History Project. Professor Knott received his Ph.D. in political science from Boston College, and has
taught at the United States Air Force Academy and the University of Virginia. He has authored three books, Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth, Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency, and his most recent, Rush to Judgment: George W. Bush, the War on Terror, and His Critics, published last year. He has co-authored The Reagan Years and At Reagan’s Side: Insiders’ Recollections from Sacramento to the White House. The 2009 recipient of the Fr. Louis Dion, A.A.’35 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Assumption College Alumni Association, he resides in Canton, Mass. Lauring has improved the life of the Assumption community through significant financial support and has faithfully supported other organizations in greater Worcester. Retired president of Lauring Construction, he took over the business established by his father in 1920. His three sons now run the business, which completed the construction of the College’s Tinsley Campus Ministry Center last year. Lauring Construction built the Ryken Center at St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury and has worked on many church renovations in the Worcester Diocese. Mr. Lauring is also co-owner of Emmanuel Communications (WNEB 1230-AM) of Worcester, formed in 2008 when a small group of Catholics answered the call to start a local Catholic radio station. He has volunteered as several local organizations and has served on the board for Southgate of Shrewsbury and both Shrewsbury and Salisbury nursing homes.
Stephen Knott, ph.D. ’79
raymond lauring
Assumption College Magazine
Spring 2013
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