February 04, 2011
Suffolk County Regent Roger Tilles to
Speak as Part of St. John’s Founder’s Week Celebration at Oakdale
Campus
Roger B. Tilles, Regent for the Tenth Judicial District,
will be a special guest presenter at St. John’s Founder’s Week
Celebration on Long Island at the University’s Oakdale campus on
Saturday, February 5 at 11:00 a.m.
The title of Regent Tilles’ presentation is “Doing Well by Doing
Good.” He will connect the Vincentian charism (the mission of St.
John’s University) into his talk before a crowd of educators,
students and administrators held at the Bourne Mansion of the
Oakdale campus. St. John’s University celebrates Founder’s Week
each year to salute the Vincentian mission and the works of St.
Vincent de Paul.
Jerold Ross, Dean of The School of Education at St. John’s
University will give the welcome address.
“Though not Catholic, Regent Roger Tilles' entire life has
exemplified the Mission of the Vincentian Community. He and
his family have not only contributed money to a wide variety of
charitable institutions, including the often overlooked arts
organizations, but his time, energy, and imagination
have been put to the service of people most in need as one of the
top policy makers and educational leaders in the State,” said
Ross. “This intelligence will be reflected in his
remarks as he continues to grapple with the same issues that
motivated St. Vincent de Paul.”
Regent Tilles was re-elected to a second five year term by
concurrent resolution effective April 1, 2010. He is also involved
with significant interfaith activities: two of the most prominent
being Project Understanding, which he formed with Monsignor Tom
Hartman in 1987, bringing Catholic and Jewish teenagers together
annually on a mission to Israel; and as the producer of the first
Vatican commemoration of the Holocaust under the auspices of Pope
John Paul II in Rome in 1994.
Born and educated in Great Neck, NY in their public schools, Regent
Tilles graduated in 1968 from Amherst College with a Bachelor of
Arts degree and from the University of Michigan College of Law in
1971. He became Director of Law and Legislation for the Michigan
Department of Education, was elected to the Michigan State Board of
Education, and in 1975, he became the Executive Secretary to the
Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives.
During this time in Michigan he taught education and the law at
University of Michigan, Michigan State, Eastern Michigan and
Central Michigan Universities’ Schools of Education. He was also
the counsel to the Michigan Teacher Tenure Commission as well as a
Special Education Hearing Officer. After being a candidate for U.S.
Congress, he opened his own law practice in Washington, D.C. in
1978, until his return to Long Island in 1983 where he is a
Director of Tilles Investment Companies. He is a member of the New
York, D.C. and Michigan Bar Associations.
Interested media outlets can contact Dominic Scianna, Assistant
Vice President for Media Relations by calling (718) 990-6185 or
e-mail inquiries to sciannad@stjohns.edu