Commencement Speakers

SATURDAY, MAY 14 | 9 AM

Troy McMullen ’89 is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who has spent the past three decades covering news and world events across the globe. It all started for the CCSU Communication major when he acquired an internship at WVIT, the NBC affiliate in West Hartford. His first job after graduation was as a production associate and broadcast news writer at WTNH, the ABC affiliate in New Haven.

McMullen is currently executive editor at ABC News in New York where he helps guide the news division’s journalism standards, ethics, and accuracy across all of its platforms, including Good Morning America, ABC News Digital, and podcasts. Prior to that, he was a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New

York and Berlin, Germany where his reporting took him across Europe and the Middle East.

In addition to his day job at ABC, McMullen is a regular contributor to several international publications, including The Washington Post, Architectural Digest, and The Financial Times where his writing covers economic trends in architecture, design, and housing policy. He’s also a journalism lecturer at Iona College.

MICHELE “MICKEY” PEREZ ’14, ’16 MA

SATURDAY, MAY 14 | 2:30 PM

An industrial manager at jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, Mickey Perez has boundless enthusiasm for all things aviation and aerospace. At airshows around the country, she seeks out young attendees to share knowledge about related educational resources, career paths, and mentorship opportunities. To that end in 2020 she founded Super Jet Brunette, an organization with the mission of fostering and inspiring the next generation of professionals in the fields of technology, engineering, aviation, aerospace, manufacturing, and science.

Perez arrived at CCSU as a transfer student from New York. She graduated summa cum laude in 2014 with a B.S. in Industrial Technology after earning more than 10 honors and scholarships, including the 2014 Henry Barnard Distinguished

Student Award and the President’s Citation. Two years later, she completed her MA in Industrial Technology Management, also at CCSU.

Perez is the president of the Connecticut chapter of Women in Aviation International. In the CCSU community, she shares her enthusiasm and expertise as a member of the Manufacturing & Technology Management Industrial Advisory Board and participant in the mentoring program for transfer students.