Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters

Marichu Valencia

Enterprising executive, you earned your Bachelor of Arts degree in interior design from the College of the Holy Spirit Manila and, with a spirit of adventure, came to the United States to seek your future. You began your career at the Ritz Carlton in Washington, D.C., and were soon climbing the ranks in the hospitality and design industries. 

You worked as an interior designer at several D.C.-based architectural and design firms, designing and managing hospitality projects in the U.S. and abroad. You also served at the U.S. Department of State as a senior interior designer with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, where you designed the residences of U.S. ambassadors.

Passionate advocate and patron, you are invested in your community and contribute your time and expertise to a host of non-profit organizations. You have worked with Meals on Wheels Delaware, the Ronald McDonald House, the Newark Senior Center, Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware, and Catholic Relief Services. 

You have served on the Board of the Delaware Art Museum and are currently a member of the Advisory Board of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Honorary Blue Hen, you have contributed to the University of Delaware in numerous ways, including serving as a member of the UD President’s Leadership Council. 

Together with your husband, MBNA America Professor Emeritus of Business Donald J. Puglisi, you have made significant gifts to a variety of initiatives in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, the UD athletics program, and Engineers Without Borders. Your generous patronage of the University’s School of Music is unprecedented. 

Time and again, when the University has put out a call for support, you have answered.Therefore, under the authority of the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware, I have the pleasure and honor of conferring upon you, Marichu Valencia, the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters and do declare you entitled to all the rights, honors, and privileges to that degree appertaining throughout the world.

Terri L. Kelly
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
May 2023