New Jersey’s first Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno will be the keynote speaker and the recipient of an honorary doctor of humane letters.

Ralph Izzo, PhD, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of the Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc., Newark, will receive an honorary doctor of science. Since joining PSE&G in 1992, Izzo was elected to several executive positions within PSEG’s family of companies. Izzo’s career began as a research scientist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, performing numerical simulations of fusion energy experiments. He has published or presented over 35 papers. Izzo’s public policy experience includes service as an American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellow in the office of former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley. He also served as a senior policy advisor in the Office of former New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean, specializing in energy, science and technology.

 Leon G. Smith, MD, will receive an honorary doctor of science. Smith developed the first viral diagnostic laboratory in New Jersey, as well as H.I.V. and Hepatitis C Clinics at Saint Michael’s Medical Center.  His honors include the Clara Barton Award, the highest award the American Red Cross bestows on volunteers.  Smith co-chairs the Medical Society of New Jersey’s Bio-Terrorism Task Force and is a Master of the American College of Physicians.   He chairs the residency program in internal medicine at Seton Hall University School of Graduate Medical Education.  He was chief of infectious diseases at Saint Michael’s Medical Center, Newark, for 40 years before becoming chair of the hospital’s department of medicine.