More than 140 are expected to participate in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College’s 168th Commencement Ceremony on May 2, 2009.

During the ceremony, Marlene EchoHawk, Ph.D., a graduate of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) and an advocate for Indian behavioral health and adolescents, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the College, and she will deliver the 2009 Commencement address. During the ceremony, SMWC will also recognize Mary Pat Kelly, Ph.D., an author and filmmaker, as the College’s 2009 Distinguished Alumna award recipient.

EchoHawk, who obtained a bachelor of science degree from SMWC in biology in 1953, has committed herself to helping improve the overall health care of American Indian and Alaska Native individuals, families, villages, communities, and tribes.

Born in Pawnee, Okla., EchoHawk is an enrolled member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe located in Northern Oklahoma. Growing up, her native language was spoken in the home, but English was also spoken when necessary. She graduated high school at age 15 and went on to study at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.

In 1962, she took a job at the Veteran Affairs Hospital in Oklahoma City, and she worked in the biochemistry laboratory from 1962 to 1973. She returned to graduate school in 1969 and obtained a doctorate in clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University in 1976.

After serving as an independent consultant for various universities and American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes, she decided to settle down into private practice in 1983. She focused her attention and skills on helping newborn through adolescent children.

In 1986, she joined the Indian Health Service (IHS) Mental Health Program and served as staff psychologist in Chinle Comprehensive Health Facility in Chinle, Ariz., on the Navajo Reservation. In 1989, she became the Mental Health Branch Chief in the IHS Aberdeen Area Office in Aberdeen, S.D., where she provided oversight to 17 tribal mental health programs in 14 states. And, in 1993, she was recruited to be the Deputy Chief of the IHS Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Program Branch at Headquarters central office. From 1999 to 2009, she worked at IHS Headquarters in Rockville Md., in the Behavioral Health Program. She recently retired from that facility, where she last served as a Health Science Administrator.

But retirement will not slow her down. EchoHawk says she will continue to work with families, health care providers and healers in the American Indiana and Alaska Native communities, and she hopes that her work can help create a path to a healthy and nurturing future for generations to come.

“We still have many Indian youth who are abusing alcohol and drugs,” Echohawk said. “My hope for the future would be that they would instead focus more on their education so they can take responsibility for going back to help their communities and their tribes. I don’t see it as impossible, but we have a long way to go.”

SMWC’s 2009 Distinguished Alumna award recipient, Mary Pat Kelly, graduated from SMWC in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in English and theatre. She also holds a Ph.D. from the City University of New York.

Kelly, who recently embarked on a national book tour for her newly published novel “Galway Bay,” has told various stories connected to Ireland. Her award-winning PBS documentaries and accompanying books include “To Live for Ireland,” a portrait of Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume and the political party he led; “Home Away from Home: The Yanks in Ireland,” a history of U.S. forces in Northern Ireland during World War II; and “Proudly We Served: The Men of the USS Mason,” a portrayal of the only African-American sailors to take a World War II warship into combat, whose first foreign port was Belfast. She wrote and directed the dramatic feature film “Proud,” starring Ossie Davis and Stephen Rea, based on the USS Mason story.

She has also written two books about Martin Scorsese, “Martin Scorsese: The First Decade” and “Martin Scorsese: A Journey.” During interviews, she often talks about how she was introduced to Scorsese during her time at SMWC.

“I met Martin Scorsese through an article on the table of Sr. Mary Olive’s “Green Room” in 1966,” Kelly said. “Sr. Marie Denise encouraged me when I proposed comparing his student film ‘It’s Not Just You Murray’ to James Joyce’s story ‘Grace’ as a topic for my senior thesis. I wrote to him. He sent me his film. I can still see Sr. Marie Denise and me threading up a rickety old 16mm projector and watching his movie. We laughed so hard and both knew we were seeing the early work of a genius. After I left the Sisters of Providence, I went to New York University Film School and worked with Scorsese and later wrote about him.”

Kelly worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter for Paramount and Columbia Pictures and in New York City as an associate producer with Good Morning America and Saturday Night Live, and wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Abby’s Song. She has also written “Good to Go: The Rescue of Scott O’Grady from Bosnia,” a novel, “Special Intentions,” and she is a frequent contributor to “Irish America Magazine.”

Born and raised in Chicago, she lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side with her husband, Web designer Martin Sheerin from County Tyrone.

The 2009 SMWC Commencement Ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. in the Cecilian Auditorium of the College’s Conservatory of Music. Seating in the Cecilian Auditorium is reserved, however, members of the community are invited to watch the Ceremony in the O’Shaughnessy Dining Room of the Providence Center via a live video feed. The Baccalaureate Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. in the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Tickets are not required for Baccalaureate.

For more information, contact Lynn Hughes, director of public relations, at LHughes@smwc.edu or 812-535-5212.