SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – Former Seton Hall men’s basketball head coaches P.J. Carlesimo and Bill Raftery will be among 1,052 undergraduate students becoming alumni of the nation’s oldest diocesan Catholic university on Monday, May 11 at Seton Hall University’s 152nd Commencement Exercises. The ceremony will take place at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Commencement program begins at 11 a.m., with the procession starting at 10:15 a.m.

As part of the University’s Commencement ceremony tradition, Seton Hall honors outstanding men and women for the lives they lead and the work they have accomplished. This year Seton Hall will honor Carlesimo, Raftery and Luna Kaufman with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree. Each will also provide remarks to graduating students.

P.J. Carlesimo

P.J. Carlesimo was men’s head basketball coach at Seton Hall for 12 years. His talented and well-coached team surprised the collegiate sports world in 1989 by winning their way to the NCAA championship game. He was named NCAA Coach of the Year in 1989 and Big East Coach of the Year in 1988 and 1989. He moved to the NBA in the summer of 1994, where he has worked for several teams, most recently Seattle/Oklahoma City. P.J. generously shares his time on campus as a leader and teacher of young people.

Bill Raftery

Bill Raftery is currently in his 27th season as an analyst for CBS Sports' college basketball coverage. Prior to his broadcasting career, Bill was Seton Hall's head basketball coach for 12 years. During his entire 16-year collegiate coaching career, he gained three NIT and four ECAC Tournament berths and was named Coach of the Year in 1979 by the New Jersey Basketball Writers Association. Bill, too, constantly gives of himself, sharing his faith and his insights with students and alumni of Seton Hall whenever he is asked.

Luna Kaufman, a survivor of the death camps in World War II, will also speak and receive an honorary degree.  Kaufman is chair emerita of Seton Hall’s Sister Rose Thering Endowment for Jewish-Christian and Holocaust Studies and was a founding member of the Governor's Council on Holocaust Education.