The undergraduate and graduate members of the Class of 2004 will not be the only people receiving degrees at the College's 234th Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, June 13. Honorary degrees will be conferred upon nine distinguished individuals.
Jeffrey Immelt '78, the Chairman and CEO of General Electric and this year's Commencement speaker, will receive his Doctor of Laws degree along with award-winning author Margaret Atwood, activists Rebecca Adamson and Alice Walters, architect Lo-Yi Chan '54, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Philippe de Montebello, president of Xavier University Norman C. Francis, former College trustee Richard M. Page'54 and leading cancer researcher Janet D. Rowley M.D.
Atwood has written 25-plus works of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and her highly acclaimed novels include The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin, for which she was recently awarded the prestigious Booker price.
Atwood's work, including her most recent novel, Oryx and Crake, has been praised for pinpointing issues of personal and universal concern. Atwood will receive a Doctor of Letters degree.
Philippe de Montebello, who has been directing the Metropolitan Museum of Art for over 25 years, will receive a Doctoral of Arts degree. His tenure has been the longest of any Director in the Museum's impressive history.
The founder and current president of First Nations Development Institute and the founder of First Peoples Worldwide, Adamson has been an active advocate for indigenous peoples. She will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
Having specialized in campus planning, Doctoral of Arts degree recipient Chan has garnered praise for her projects, which include the Sackler Museum at Peking University, the Sever Hall restoration at Harvard University and the Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth.
Francis became the first black lay President of Xavier, the nation's only traditionally black Catholic university, in 1968. He will receive a Doctor of Laws degree.
Page was an industry leader in the fields of insurance brokerage and financial services, and he stills serves as a trustee of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock clinic. He will also be awarded a Doctor of Laws degree.
Slated to receive a Doctor of Science degree, University of Chicago professor Rowley has conducted groundbreaking research analyzing chromosomal defects in cancer cells.
A renowned chef, Waters has been a sound advocate for sustainable agriculture. She has promoted her beliefs about our relationship with food and the planet at her restaurant, Chez Panisse, and through the Chez Panisse Foundation. She will be awarded a Doctor of Arts degree.
Honorary degree recipients are recognized because they represent an embodiment of accomplishments and contributions to society that are worthy for Dartmouth graduates to aspire to, Roland Adams, director of news and public information for the Office of Public Affairs, told The Dartmouth.
The Council on Honorary Degrees solicits candidate nominations in the fall from members of the faculty, staff and senior class. The Council is a standing committee comprised of a one faculty member from the Amos Tuck School of Business, one from the Thayer School of Engineering, one from Dartmouth Medical School and one from each of the three main undergraduate divisions -- arts and humanities, the sciences and the social sciences. The president of the senior class then reviews the nominations and recommends a list of degree recipients to the President of the College.
The President and the trustees can add their own nominations, and they then invite certain members on the list to receive honorary degrees. One invited recipient is asked to deliver the commencement address.
Honorary degree recipients typically arrive on campus Saturday afternoon and participate in activities with the trustees that evening and again after Sunday's Commencement ceremonies, Adams said. All recipients are expected to be present to receive their awards.
