The Rabb School of Continuing Studies awarded diplomas to 108 Graduate Professional Studies (GPS) students at its 2021 commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 23. Although a virtual experience will never be able to replace the gravitas of an in-person ceremony, we do sincerely hope everyone enjoyed the stream, and we are very proud of all of our graduates for their tremendous accomplishments!
Rabb School of Continuing Studies is one of the four schools at Brandeis University. Dedicated to providing working professionals a world class education, Rabb continuously innovates its approach to teaching. The GPS students who have earned their master of science degrees today have done so fully online, with many of them working full-time jobs.
Arthur Harvey, this year’s commencement keynote speaker, is an alumni of Brandeis GPS graduating with an MS in Information Technology Management degree. For the past 35 years, Harvey has worked in healthcare informatics with expertise building high-performing teams at provider organizations. He currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Boston Medical Center Health System, and is on the Brandeis GPS Health Informatics advisory boards.
“The most valuable lessons I took from my time as a graduate student were not really about specifics, they were about general principles: communication, deep analysis, data-driven decision-making, and how to work with all kinds of people in all situations,” Harvey said. Quoting Justice Brandeis, he added, “Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.”
Harvey continued on to say, “I have three things I would ask you to consider as you return to the industry. First off, what is my organization trying to accomplish and how can I help? Does my team know this as well? Next, what new skills have I acquired or practiced lately? Growth is good. Lastly, what have I done recently to help along the career of one of my team members or a colleague? In my experience, we learn a lot about ourselves when we help others.”
The full breakdown of diplomas awarded is as follows:
- MS in Bioinformatics (8 graduates)
- MS in Digital Innovation for FinTech (3 graduates)
- MS in Digital Marketing and Design (9 graduates)
- MS in Health and Medical Informatics (7 graduates)
- MS in Health Informatics (6 graduates)
- MS in Information Security (1 graduate)
- MS in Information Security Leadership (6 graduates)
- MS in Information Technology Management (1 graduate)
- Graduate Certificate in Learning Analytics (1 graduate)
- MS in Learning Experience Design (1 graduate)
- MS in Project and Program Management (36 graduates)
- MS in Robotic Software Engineering (2 graduates)
- Master of Software Engineering (6 graduates)
- MS in Strategic Analytics (12 graduates)
- MS in Technology Management (4 graduates)
- MS in User-Centered Design (5 graduates)
View a recording of the commencement ceremony here. Congratulations again to our graduates!
One of four schools at Brandeis University, the Rabb School is dedicated to developing innovative ways to deliver a Brandeis education to non-traditional communities. The GPS students graduating today have earned their masters of science degrees fully online, often while holding down full-time jobs and balancing other professional and personal obligations.
Commencement speaker Michael Figueroa, president and executive director of the Advanced Cyber Security Center, challenged the graduating class to consider the value their advanced degrees can bring to situations beyond individual professional accomplishments.
Sean Milligan, an instructor in the online 
In addition to teaching in the program, Sean serves as a Global Services and Support Director for a privately-owned software development company specializing in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions for the manufacturing industry. He has more than 25 years of experience in managing projects and programs for a number of industries. He is a member of the Project Management Institute, is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and is a certified Myers-Briggs Practitioner.