The Saint Rose Chronicle

Issue date: 12/13/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Chronicle Archives Nearly 500 Saint Rose students will graduate on December 16 in Albany.

Gowns will be swishing and tassels swaying as Saint Rose students complete their final task and receive their Bachelor's and Master's degrees.

On December 16 at 10:00 a.m., The College of Saint Rose mid-year graduation will take place in the Convention Hall, at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza. Nearly 500 students will be awarded degrees.

This speaker is not a government official, or someone famous. Gerardine Ferlins is more than a figurehead. She is the president of New Hampshire-based Cirtronics Corporation, a multimillion-dollar electronics manufacturing firm. She's the picture perfect symbol of success. She's a role model for everyone, but especially for females. And she's a Saint Rose graduate.

"For more than 25 years, Gerardine Ferlins has proven that it is possible to nurture your workforce and your community as you grow a thriving business. By making her employees partners and empowering them to believe they can do anything they set out to do, she has made them agents of change outside the office walls, benefiting youth and families in her community and her state," President R. Mark Sullivan said.

Gerardine Ferlins earned her bachelor of arts degree in sociology from The College of Saint Rose in 1970. She started her post graduate life as a medical social worker. Ferlins later became a teacher. Following teaching, Ferlins started in business at Worcester Controls and held various positions. Robert McCray, the owner, sold Worcester and asked Ferlins to join him in a new endeavor - Cirtonics, which Ferlins purchased from McCray in 1993.

Ferlins is one of few women to own and head a manufacturing business. Ferlins started with just 30 employees in 1990. The company now employs more than 180 and its sales this year have exceeded $43 million.

This is the twelfth annual mid-year graduation.

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