Wayne State University

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Wayne State University

Public Relations

Media Report

April 24, 2012

Detroit News story profiles 78-year-old actress, mother graduating from Wayne State

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120421/METRO/204210352#ixzz1sreNrae9

Dorothy Dunne has been studying for her final exams so she can don a cap and gown and get a diploma this spring from Wayne State University. Although thousands of other students will complete their studies at Michigan's colleges and universities in coming weeks, Dunne isn't the typical graduate: She is getting her first bachelor's degree at 78. Alongside her at WSU's May 7 commencement ceremony will be her 81-year-old husband, Harold Dunne, who is getting his third bachelor's degree. "I am absolutely elated," said Dorothy Dunne, a Livonia resident who majored in theater after acting for years in community theater, commercials and films. "I am so proud of myself. I truly didn't think I could do it." Joel Silvers, a WSU film professor who has known Dunne for 10 years, says he considers her one of the most interesting and cultured people he's ever met. "Although she is just now getting her degree, in my book, she has many degrees," Silvers said. "She is my professor. She has so much to teach. She has so much wisdom and so much life experience." Mary Cooney, a WSU lecturer in theater, says “she’s an absolute role model for us all.”

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