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Senator Barbara Boxer, Mariska Hargitay, Charles Burnett at UCLA 2011 Commencement

By April MacIntyre Jun 1, 2011, 19:53 GMT

Mariska Hargitay - Joyful Heart Foundation Gala - Arrivals - Skylight Soho, 275 Hudson Street - New York City, NY, USA © Sylvain Gaboury / PR Photos

United States Senator Barbara Boxer will be the 2011 Commencement Speaker at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (TFT) commencement ceremony on June 10.  

Also in attendance and receiving Distinguished Alumni Awards will be Emmy and Golden Globe winner Mariska Hargitay for Theater and multi-award winning writer/director Charles Burnett for Film, it was announced today by TFT Dean, Teri Schwartz. 

From UCLA

Dean Schwartz will preside over the event, which begins at 3:00PM at Dickson Court North on the Westwood campus of UCLA.

“Senator Boxer’s remarkable life and public works exemplify our TFT vision to enlighten, engage and inspire change for a better world,” Schwartz commented.  “She is a great inspiration to all of us, and we are very honored to have Senator Boxer as our Commencement Speaker.  Our Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are both extraordinary creative talents in their respective professions. Mariska, is a gifted actress as well as a humanitarian, and Charles is a groundbreaking, brilliant filmmaker. The works of these very special alumni are great examples of our new vision as they both continually use the power of story and performance to impact our social consciousness.  Commencement 2011 promises to be a truly memorable day for our graduates and for all of our TFT community.”

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992 after 10 years of service in the House of Representatives, and was recently reelected to her fourth term. She made history as the first woman to chair the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and is the only current Senator to chair two committees, including her leadership of the Select Committee on Ethics. Senator Boxer is a national leader in environmental protection and has won numerous awards for her efforts to promote cleaner air and water, address climate change and create a 21st century transportation policy for the United States. She co-chairs the Senate Military Family Caucus and the Senate Afterschool Caucus, and is a forceful advocate for families, children, consumers and the state of California.

Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award winner Mariska Hargitay stars as the committed and emotionally driven Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU, now in its 12th season on NBC. Inspired by that role, Hargitay founded the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004, whose mission is to heal, educate, and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, and to shed light into the darkness surrounding these issues.

Emmy, Sundance and Independent Spirit Award winner, Charles Burnett, is one of the most distinguished African-American cinematic voices to emerge in the second half of the 20th century. Burnett has endeavored to bring to the screen a deeply personal, realistic portrayal of contemporary African-American life heretofore not seen in mainstream feature films. Critically lauded for all of his work for both feature films and television, Burnett is best known for his film’s Killer Sheep, To Sleep with Anger and The Glass Shield.  Burnett just received a major retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC in April 2011.

The School’s commencement ceremony honors approximately 200 students in the departments of theater, film, television and digital media. The school will confer Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees. Scholars who have completed a Doctor of Philosophy or PhD will be recognized at the event.

For more information on UCLA TFT commencement ceremony please visit http://www2.tft.ucla.edu/commencement.