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BOSTON—A legendary figure in Boston’s higher education community, a former Rhode Island governor and an innovative New Hampshire program that enables high school students to pursue college-level courses for credit are among recipients of the 2006 New England Higher Education Excellence Awards announced today by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE).

Commenting on the 2006 award honorees, NEBHE President and CEO Evan S. Dobelle said “The programs, institutions and individuals honored this year exemplify NEBHE’s mission to promote greater access to higher education for residents of New England and reinforce the value of our region’s rich higher education resource.”

Among winners of the 2006 regional excellence awards, Boston College Chancellor J. Donald Monan, S.J., won the regional award for lifetime achievement, named for the late Rhode Island Higher Education Commissioner Eleanor M. McMahon. Former University of Massachusetts board chair Grace K. Fey won the regional award for trusteeship, which is named for former UMass President David C. Knapp.

Former Rhode Island Gov. J. Joseph Garrahy won the regional award for leadership named for Walter R. Peterson who served as governor of New Hampshire from 1969 to 1973. The New Hampshire Community Technical College System’s Project Running Start won the regional award for program achievement named for former Rhode Island state senator and Newport mayor Robert J. McKenna.

The 2006 New England Higher Education Merit Awards winners are: from Connecticut, William J. Cibes Jr., chancellor of the Connecticut State University System, and the late Norwalk Community College President William H. Schwab; from Maine, theMaine Policy Review published by the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center; from Massachusetts: Ann Coles, senior vice president of TERI’s College Access Program, and director of the Pathways to College Network; from New Hampshire, Jobs for New Hampshire’s Graduates; from Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority; and from Vermont, the IBM/Vermont State Colleges/University of Vermont Education Consortium Project.

Each year, NEBHE presents four regional awards to individuals and organizations that have shown exceptional leadership on behalf of higher education and the advancement of educational opportunity. The organization also presents six “merit awards” to honor the innovative work of organizations, institutions or individuals in each New England state.

An awards ceremony will take place on Friday, Feb. 24, at Boston’s Fairmont Copley Plaza.