May 12, 2004
Nobel Laureate, Former Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff
Among Four Honored at GWs 2004 Commencement
Luther W. Brady, Leon Lederman, Gail Paster and Gen.
John Shalikashvili to Address Graduates May 16
While other universities will hear addresses from a single commencement
speaker, The George Washington University has selected four leaders in
their respective fields Luther W. Brady, Leon Lederman, Gail Paster
and retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili to receive honorary degrees
and address the more than 5,500 students from the graduating class of
2004 and their roughly 14,000 guests at GWs Commencement ceremony
on the Ellipse, May 16.
Our honorary degree recipients have each made a difference in our
world in their own ways and in four different fields,
said President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. They have made our lives
safer, richer, longer and unquestionably better. They are perfect role
models for our graduates.
Brady (BA 46, MD 48), one of the worlds foremost oncologists,
will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree. Brady has been professor
of medicine at Philadelphias Hahnemann School of Medicine since
1963. In addition, Brady has maintained an intense involvement with the
arts. He served as chair of the Philadelphia Museum of Arts executive
committee and currently serves as its trustee. GWs Luther W. Brady
Art Gallery in the Universitys Media and Public Affairs Building
is named for Brady.
Lederman, winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in physics, will receive an honorary
Doctor of Public Service degree. Lederman is director emeritus of Fermi
National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, IL, and Pritzker Professor
of Science at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Committed to
improving public education, he is a founder and the inaugural resident
scholar of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, a residential
public high school for the gifted, and founder and chair emeritus of the
Teachers Academy for Mathematics and Science in Chicago. In addition to
the Nobel Prize, he has received numerous other awards, including the
National Medal of Science (1965), the Elliot Cresson Medal of the Franklin
Institute (1976), the Wolf Prize in Physics (1982) and the Enrico Fermi
Prize (1993).
Paster, a noted Shakespearean scholar and former GW professor of English,
will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. Paster has served as
director of the Folger Shakespeare Library since 2002. She continues as
editor of Shakespeare Quarterly, the leading scholarly journal in the
field published by the Folger Library in association with GW. In addition,
Paster has received many national fellowships and awards, including fellowships
from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, the National Endowment
for the Humanities, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and
the Mellon Foundation.
Shalikashvili, the 13th chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, serving from
199397, will add to the MS degree in international affairs he earned
at GW in 1970 with an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree. In his
capacity as head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Shalikashvili was the senior
officer in the US military, serving as the principal military adviser
to the president, the US Secretary of Defense and the National Security
Council. Among Shalikashvilis numerous decorations are the Presidential
Medal of Freedom and honors from 18 foreign nations.
The GW Commencement on the Ellipse is one of several events for graduates
the weekend of May 1416. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (DCT) will
lead GWs interfaith baccalaureate service May 14 at 3 pm at Western
Presbyterian Church, 2401 Virginia Ave. The Elliott School of International
Affairs (ESIA) and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS)
will hold their school ceremonies May 14. Andrew Thompson (BA 85),
former mayor of Tiburon, CA, and director of GVA Whitney Cressman, will
address ESIA graduates at 2 pm in the Charles E. Smith Center. FAA Director
Marion C. Blakey will speak at the SEAS ceremony at 7:30 pm in the Smith
Center.
The School of Business, the Graduate School of Education and Human Development
(GSEHD), the School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPPHS) and Columbian
College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) will host graduation events May 15.
Edward M. Straw (MBA 72), president of global operations at The
Estee Lauder Companies, Inc., will address business school graduates at
8:30 am in the Smith Center. Camille Stillwell, president of the GSEHD
Alumni Association, will address GSEHD graduates at 8:30 am in Lisner
Auditorium. H. Jack Geiger, MD, Arthur C. Logan Professor Emeritus of
Community Medicine, City University of New York Medical School, will lead
SPHHS ceremonies at noon in Lisner Auditorium. Steve Roberts, J.B. and
Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Media and Public Affairs, and David McAleavy,
professor of English, and director of the creative writing program, will
address graduates at CCAS ceremonies, one at 12:30 pm and the other 3:30
pm in the Smith Center.
Antonia C. Novello, MD, the former US Surgeon General (199093) will
speak at the School of Medicine ceremony May 16 at 2 pm in the Smith Center.
Judge Thomas Buergenthal of the International Court of Justice will address
the GW Law Schools ceremony May 23 in the Smith Center.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
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