Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell to be Bunker Hill Community College’s 2023 Commencement Speaker
Monday, April 24, 2023
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, the first Black woman to serve as Massachusetts Attorney General, will address the class of 2023 at Bunker Hill Community College’s 49th Commencement exercises on Thursday, May 25, at the MGM Fenway Music Hall in Boston.
“Attorney General Campbell is both a model and an inspiration for our graduating students because her own life story so closely resembles so many of theirs,” said Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) President Pam Eddinger. “From growing up in Boston to persevering over challenges and loss to her work as a city councilor and now the ‘people’s lawyer,’ I can think of no better venue for her first commencement address as Attorney General than BHCC.”
On January 18, 2023, Andrea Joy Campbell was sworn in to be the 45th Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the first Black woman to hold that position in Massachusetts. A native of Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, Campbell lost her mother to a car accident at the age of eight, while going visit her father in prison. She and her brothers subsequently lived in foster care and with family, relying on public housing and food assistance while her grandmother struggled with alcoholism. Her two brothers sadly cycled in and out of the prison system. She lost her twin brother Andre, when he passed away while in the custody of the Department of Corrections as a pre-trial detainee.
Campbell graduated from Boston Latin School and then worked her way through college with the help of grants and student loans, graduating from Princeton University and UCLA Law School. After earning her law degree, she worked as a legal services attorney for the EdLaw project, defending the rights of children and their families — particularly those with disabilities.
Campbell later practiced law at Proskauer LLP as an employment attorney, and ultimately left to serve the public as General Counsel at the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, working across 101 cities and towns to address regional challenges like health care access, transportation, affordable housing, and climate change. Campbell also served as legal counsel to Governor Deval Patrick, working to improve our education and transportation systems and move forward an agenda of equity across the state.
In 2015, Campbell successfully ran for the Boston City Council becoming the first woman to represent District 4 on the Council. Her first piece of legislation was the Community Preservation Act, which still generates over $20 million annually for new affordable housing, historical preservation, and parks and open space. In 2018, she was unanimously elected City Council President – the first Black woman to hold the title.
Media Contact:
Brendan P. Hughes, Director of Public Affairs
Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, MA 02129
Phone: 617-937-9365; Email: brendan.hughes@bhcc.edu
About Bunker Hill Community College
With more than 50 years of academic excellence, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is Massachusetts' largest community college, annually welcoming a diverse community of around 16,000 students. With campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, BHCC extends its reach across several locations in Greater Boston. The College offers associate degrees and certificates, early college and dual enrollment, community education, corporate training, and industry-specific training programs. BHCC is celebrated for its diversity, boasting a student body where 65% identify as people of color and more than half are women. The College also embraces a global perspective, with over 600 international students representing 90 countries and conversing in more than 65 languages. Our commitment to diversity is further reflected in BHCC's designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).