Three Individuals to Receive Honorary Degrees

University of Scranton graduate and former trustee Joseph M. Vaszily '95; Sister Mary Persico, IHM, Ed.D., the president of Marywood University; and Shabana Basij-Rasikh, the co-founder and president of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA); will receive honorary degrees from The University of Scranton at its undergraduate commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 19.

Vaszily served as a member of the University's Board of Trustees from 2013-2019, including as chair for 2018-2019. He earned his bachelor's degree in accounting, summa cum laude, from Scranton, and an MBA from New York University. He had a distinguished career in finance, retiring as vice president of the fixed income sales/trading group at Goldman Sachs in 2015 after 16 years working in finance. Prior to that, he was employed with JP Morgan in various leadership positions after starting his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1996.

Vaszily currently serves a referee for Women's Division I Basketball in the Big East Conference. He has officiated at ten Final Four games, including the 2018 and 2024 National Championship games.

Vaszily has served on the University's Alumni Board of Governors, President's Business Council and as co-chair for Scranton's 2012 President's Business Council dinner. He serves on the board of Kay Yow Cancer Fund, as finance chair, and as chair of Monsignor Farrell Vir Fidelis Fund board. He is a former trustee of the New Jersey Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Students. He resides in Westfield, New Jersey, and is actively engaged with his parish, Saint Helen's Roman Catholic Church in Westfield.

Sister Persico will retire from serving as the 12th president of Marywood University in June. During her tenure, Marywood successfully concluded a $30 million capital campaign and reorganized the school's academic structure. Previously, she served as executive vice-president of mission integration for Trinity Health, Livonia, Michigan, and the former Catholic Health East, Newtown Square. Sister Persico served as treasurer and then president of the religious congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scranton. She also served in Catholic secondary education in several states as principal and teacher for many years.

Since its inception, Sister Persico has had a relationship with the African Sisters Education Collaborative (ASEC), a program designed to provide bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees to leaders of congregations of women religious in ten African countries. For more than 30 years, she has facilitated meetings and other gatherings of women religious in Europe, South America, Africa, Canada, Australia and the United States.

Sister Persico was appointed by Governor Tom Wolf to Pennsylvania Humanities, where she served as chair for two years. Currently, she serves as a member of the Governor's task force for Higher Education in the Commonwealth, a board member of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, and as chair of the Board of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania.

Sister Persico earned her bachelor's degree in French and education from Marywood College (now University), her master's degree in French from Assumption College (now University), and a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Lehigh University.

As a student at Middlebury College in 2008, Basij-Rasikh co-founded the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA), which is the first and only boarding school for Afghan girls, currently operating in Rwanda. In 2012, she presented "Dare to Educate Afghan Girls" at the TEDWomen event in Washington, D.C., where she discussed her life and dream for SOLA.

In 2021, she spoke again for TEDtalk about her experience with the Taliban's second rise to power in Afghanistan and her determination to continue to educate Afghan girls. Within days of Taliban regaining control of Kabul and Afghanistan in August of 2021, 250 SOLA students, staff and family were evacuated from Afghanistan to Rwanda, where the boarding school continues to operate.

Basij-Rasikh earned her bachelor's degree from Middlebury College and her master's degree in public policy from Oxford University. She has received numerous awards, including the 2018 Malalai Medal, one of Afghanistan's highest national honors, recognizing her work in promoting girls' access to education. In 2019, she was named to the Forbes "30 Under 30 Asia" list in the social entrepreneurship sector. In 2023, she received the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year award from the National Geographic Society; the Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez Prize from UNICEF Spain; and was named an Inaugural Carnegie Distinguished Fellow at the newly-launched Institute of Global Politics at Columbia University in New York.

Basij-Rasikh received honorary degrees from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London and Cedar Crest College. She is also a contributor to The Washington Post Global Opinions section.

Basij-Rasikh will serve as principal speaker at the University's 2024 undergraduate commencement ceremony, which will begin at 11 a.m. on May 19 at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre.

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