New Jersey City University presented an honorary doctor of humane letters degree to Ambassador Jose Alfredo Graca Lima, center right, counsel general of Brazil in New York at its 24th annual Academic Convocation, a traditional event that marks the beginning of the academic year but this year also opened the University’s extensive 80th anniversary celebration. Gathered with Ambassador Graca Lima, who delivered the Convocation address, were, from the left, Dr. Carlos Hernandez, NJCU president; Khatmeh Osseiran-Hanna, NJCU vice president for university advancement whose division coordinates the annual program; Dominick D’Agosta, chair of the Board of Directors of the NJCU Foundation, Inc.; Lyle Hickman, an NJCU senior who delivered greetings as a representative of the University’s BEAMS (Building Engagement and Attainment of Minority Students) Project and Rafael Perez, chair of the NJCU Board of Trustees. Following the Convocation, the University held a dedication ceremony for “Beauty for Ashes Memorial I,” a mixed-media assemblage by Duda Penteado donated by the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C. Coordinated by NJCU’s Division of University Advancement, the institution’s cross-divisional 80th anniversary celebration will continue through May 2010.