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Riverlife’s Vivien Li to receive honorary degree from Allegheny College

By May 11, 2017Press Releases
Allegheny College

Image courtesy Allegheny College

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May 11, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Stephan Bontrager, Riverlife
(p) 412.258.6636 x 105
(c) 412.606.2187
(e) Stephan@riverlifepgh.org
RiverlifePgh.org

Riverlife’s Vivien Li to receive honorary degree from Allegheny College

PITTSBURGH — Vivien Li, president and chief executive officer of Riverlife, will receive an honorary degree from Allegheny College during the college’s Commencement ceremony this weekend.

Citing Ms. Li’s “extraordinary commitment to public service and dedication to the environment [which] represent the highest and best values” of Allegheny College, the school’s faculty and Board of Trustees unanimously voted last fall to grant Ms. Li the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa at Saturday’s ceremony.

Ms. Li will share the stage with Paula Kerger, president and chief executive officer of PBS, who will deliver the Commencement address, and Allegheny College President James H. Mullen Jr..

“I am honored and humbled by this recognition, given Allegheny College’s history of academic excellence and their mission to prepare young adults to excel as citizens of a diverse, interconnected world,” said Ms. Li. “I thank the faculty and Board of Trustees for this honor and extend my warmest congratulations to the graduating class of 2017.”

Riverlife is a nonprofit organization that works with developers, landowners and neighborhood groups to reclaim, restore and promote Pittsburgh’s riverfronts. Before joining Riverlife in 2015, Vivien Li served as executive director and then president of The Boston Harbor Association, where she helped secure $30 million in state funding to restore Boston Harbor beaches; worked with property owners to complete Boston’s 41-mile HarborWalk public access system; spearheaded a Harbor Bound education program which has taken more than 11,000 inner city students on Boston Harbor education trips; and initiated the first-ever Boston Harbor Sea Level Forum to focus on climate action.

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About Riverlife

Riverlife (formerly Riverlife Task Force) is a public-private partnership established in 1999 to reclaim, restore and promote Pittsburgh’s riverfronts.  Riverlife works to reconnect Pittsburgh with its rivers by bringing recreation, ecological restoration and economic opportunity back to our waterfronts. www.riverlifepgh.org