Louis Gossett Jr. to Lead Community College Commencement

Award-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. will speak at Bunker Hill Community College’s 37th Commencement exercises.

The College’s Commencement will be held on Saturday, June 4, at the Charlestown campus. Bunker Hill Community College published the following information in a press release.

Gossett captured an Emmy, television’s highest honor, in 1977 for his portrayal of the character Fiddler in the television mini-series Roots. His role as a U.S. Marine sergeant in the film An Officer and a Gentleman won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1982.  Gossett received a 1992 Golden Globe for his work in The Josephine Baker Story on HBO, and an Image Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for a guest-starring role in the CBS television series Touched by an Angel.

Gossett is also a spokesperson and behind-the-scenes leader for many charitable organizations. In 2006, Gossett founded the Eracism Foundation “to eradicate the systematic impacts of all forms of racism by providing programs that foster cultural diversity, historical enrichment, education and anti-violence initiatives.” 

Bunker Hill Community College currently enrolls more than 12,600 students and is one of the 50 fastest growing community colleges in the nation. Recent Commencement speakers at the College have included U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Dr. Benjamin S. Carson and Dr. Gary L. Gottlieb, then president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and now President and Chief Executive officer of Partners HealthCare.