Newswise — Binghamton University announced that Dr. Erwin Goldberg, a prominent reproductive biologist; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse and renowned percussionist Evelyn Glennie will receive honorary degrees from the University during Commencement ceremonies scheduled for May 20 and 21.
Reproductive biologist Dr. Erwin Goldberg will receive an honorary degree and speak at the Graduate School Commencement ceremony at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 20.
Goldberg has sought to extend basic observations from the laboratory to the bedside throughout his career. Currently professor of biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., Goldberg began his undergraduate years at Triple Cities College in 1947, and, following the rededication of the school as Harpur College, became a member of the first Harpur College graduating class, earning his bachelor's degree in biology. Harpur College later developed into Binghamton University.
Voted Outstanding Senior Man at Harpur, he continued his education at the State University of Iowa, earning his master's in 1953 and his doctorate in zoology and biochemistry in 1956. He taught at West Virginia University and North Dakota State University before accepting a position as assistant professor of biological sciences at Northwestern University in 1963, and he has risen through the ranks there to his current position. Goldberg's landmark observation that there is a unique enzyme (LDH-C4, lactate dehydrogenase) in the testis is a foundation for understanding how sperm are produced and became the basis for many later studies on testis gene expression.
In recent years, he and his students cloned and sequenced the LDH-C gene, also identifying the regulatory regions involved in specific gene activation. They are part of a worldwide effort to uncover the nature of the mechanisms that regulate time and cell-specific processes in the testes and the molecular aspects of LDH-C4.
Linda Greenhouse, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and longtime Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times, will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters and make remarks during the Commencement ceremony for professional schools at 9 a.m. Sunday, May 21.
Greenhouse began her career at The New York Times as news clerk to columnist James Reston. Her early experience as a reporter included covering state government in Albany, where she served as bureau chief for two years and became familiar with the State University of New York system and the Binghamton campus.
Greenhouse earned a bachelor's degree in government from Radcliffe College in 1968. While there, she was editor of the Harvard Crimson and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
In 1978, she earned a master of studies in law degree from Yale University. That year, she assumed her duties reporting on the Supreme Court.
She has been recognized for her reporting excellence on numerous occasions. In 1998, she received the Pulitzer Prize in journalism for beat reporting.
In 2000, Greenhouse spoke to the Binghamton University Harpur Forum, a group of more than 300 business and professional community leaders, and was hosted on campus by faculty and students in the Philosophy, Politics and Law Program.
She is the author of Becoming Justice Blackmun, published in 2005 by Henry Holt and Co.
Percussionist Evelyn Glennie, profoundly deaf from the age of 12, will receive an honorary degree and speak at the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences Commencement at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, May 21.
Glennie is the first person in musical history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist. She gives more than 100 performances a year worldwide, performing with the greatest conductors, orchestras and artists.
For the first ten years of her career, virtually every performance Glennie gave was in some way a first. Her diversity of collaborations have included performances with artists such as Nana Vasoncelos, Kodo, Bela Fleck, Bjork, Bobby McFerrin, Sting, Kings Singers, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Fred Frith.
Glennie has commissioned 133 new works for solo percussion from many of the world's most eminent composers and also composes and records music for film and television (EG Composer). Her first high-quality drama produced a score so original she was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards (BAFTA's) -- the UK equivalent of the Oscars.
Out of the 22 recordings made so far, Glennie's first CD, Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion won her a Grammy in 1988. A further two Grammy nominations followed, one of which was for a collaboration with Bela Fleck.
The Evelyn Glennie brand is constantly exploring other areas of creativity. From writing a best selling autobiography, Good Vibrations, to collaborating with the renowned film director Thomas Riedelsheimer on a film called Touch the Sound; and from presenting two series of her own television programs for the BBC, and regularly appearing on television across the world on shows including the David Letterman Show, Sesame Street and the South Bank Show (UK), to presenting and performing on Songs of Praise (UK), the Commonwealth Games Festival Concert, This is Your Life (UK), 60 minutes, and PBS Profile.
In 1993, Glennie was awarded the OBE (Officer of the British Empire) for her services to music, and to date has received more than 70 international awards.
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