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Errol Taylor ’77 |
Two Oswego alumni were honored May 20 at Commencement
2006. Prominent New York City attorney Errol
Taylor ’77 and United Nations legal officer
Christian Mensah ’84
received honorary doctor of laws degrees from SUNY and
addressed the graduating class.
“Work
hard, follow your dreams and remember that you’re
not done,” Taylor said in his address
at the morning ceremony for the Schools of Education
and Business. “This is just the beginning, the
beginning of your journey to be who you really, really
are.”
“As you go into the world
to do whatever you do, you must pay attention and appreciate
the diversity and the differences,” Mensah told
graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences at
the afternoon ceremony. “Your neighbor is not
going to be the same as you. And it becomes actually
quite beautiful.”
President Deborah F. Stanley gave the charge
to graduates at both ceremonies saying, “You
now stand ready to join the ranks of more than 65,000
Oswego alumni – and, you will be in very good
company. Our alumni are bright and knowledgeable men
and women who live and work in all 50 states and in
many countries throughout the world. They were once
here – and then set out on paths that carried
them into their lives – expanding their horizons
and providing new venues for connections and fulfillment.
The road ahead will bring to you similar widened opportunities
and new challenges – you will continue to stretch
and grow, deepen your understandings and seek success
as only you can define it.”
Taylor, a member of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy,
spent 10 years as a biological scientist in the development
of new
Christian Mensah ’84 |
pharmaceuticals at Squibb Corp. before earning his degree
in law at New York Law School in 1987.
Recognized by the National Law Journal in 2003 as one
of the top 10 litigators in the country, the native
of Jamaica has combined his experience in science and
law to build a legal practice focusing on issues surrounding
pharmaceuticals, chemicals, biotechnology, computer
software and business methods. He became highly regarded
for his successful representation of AstraZeneca in
litigation to defend patents for its anti-ulcer drug
Prilosec.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Taylor
has devoted his time and talent to organizations such
as the Young Scholar Institute of Trenton and the 100
Black Men of New Jersey. An active volunteer for his
alma mater, in 1997 Taylor was elected to the board
of directors of the Oswego College Foundation. He is
now a member of the President’s Campaign Cabinet
for Inspiring Horizons, Oswego’s first comprehensive
campaign.
Taylor has been active in Oswego’s reunions for
alumni of color, “Return to Oz,” has hosted
events for accepted students of color, and was a leading
force in establishing the Hubert B. Smith Diversity
Scholarship Fund. In 2002, he was recognized with the
Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni Service Award.
After earning his law degree at Boston University School
of Law, Mensah was appointed in 1990 as the legal adviser
to the Mozambique Mission to the United Nations and
special adviser to the chairman of the Legal Committee
of the United Nations General Assembly.
He later represented the Republic of Vanuatu as the
South Pacific island nation’s delegate to the
U.N. General Assembly. In this position he participated
in the gathering of world leaders known as the Earth
Summit in 1992, where he was one of the principal drafters
and negotiators at the Rio Conference on Environment
and Development.
In 1993, he left for Somalia as a Legal Officer for
the United Nations Operations there. Evacuated from
Somalia in 1995 due to the deterioration of the security
situation in the country, he joined the United Nations
International Civil Aviation Organization as a legal
adviser, where he helped design a project to guide and
control aircraft through the air space of war-torn Somalia.
In 1998, in addition to ICAO, he also became the legal
adviser to the United Nations Development Program in
Somalia, leading the establishment of a legal clinic
at the University of Hargeisa Law School in Somaliland
to create awareness of rights and ensure access to justice
for the poor, internally displaced and the disadvantaged
in Somali society.
Beginning Aug. 1, 2005, Mensah became the senior legal
officer for the United Nations in Nairobi.
Mensah has maintained close ties to his alma mater,
returning to campus to share his insights on issues
under discussion at the United Nations in history, political
science and language classes. |
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To June 2006 E-Newsletter |
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