CONTACT: Dean Golembeski, 860-297-2143, [email protected]
HARTFORD, Conn., May 3 -- More than 500 undergraduate students will receive their degrees, and nine distinguished individuals will be honored when Trinity College holds its 174th Commencement on Sunday, May 21 at 2 p.m.
The Commencement speaker will be Richard C. Holbrooke, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Holbrooke, who was appointed to his current position in 1999, previously served as U.S. ambassador to Germany from 1993-1994 and was assistant secretary for European and Canadian Affairs in 1994. During that time he was the chief negotiator for the historic 1995 Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia. Holbrooke's government career began in 1962 when he became a foreign service officer following his graduation from Brown University. In addition to his government career, Holbrooke has served as vice chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston and as managing editor for Foreign Policy magazine. He is the author of To End a War and co-author of Counsel to the President. Holbrooke will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
The Rev. Peter J. Gomes, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church at Harvard University, will be the speaker at the College's Baccalaureate, which will take place on the morning of May 21 prior to Commencement. Gomes, the author of The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind, is the former acting director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard. At Commencement, Gomes will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.
The others who will receive honorary degrees are:
-- Richard C. Atkinson, the 17th president of the University of California. Before becoming president of the UC System in 1995, he served as chancellor of the University of California in San Diego for 15 years. He is a former director of the National Science Foundation, past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, former chair of the Association of American Universities, and a former member of the faculty at Stanford University. His research in the field of cognitive science and psychology led to the discovery of the Atkinson-Shiffrin model, a memory model that is one of the most cited contributions to psychology and has been used to develop computer-controlled systems for teaching in the primary grades. He will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
-- Lloyd N. Cutler, a former legal counsel to presidents Carter and Clinton. Among his many professional and civic activities, he is a trustee of the Brookings Institution and co-founder and director of the Southern Africa Legal Services and Legal Education Project, Inc. He serves on the advisory council of the International Human Rights Law Group and is a member of the American Bar Association's commission on law and economy. He is a former lecturer at Yale's Law School and School of Organization & Management. He also is a partner in the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, DC. He will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
-- Elizabeth B. Drew, an award-winning author of 11 books and a journalist. Her most recently published book is The Corruption of American Politics: What Went Wrong and Why. A former Washington correspondent for the New Yorker magazine for 19 years, Drew is a syndicated columnist at the Washington Post and other newspapers. From 1971-1973, she had her own series of weekly television programs for the Public Broadcasting Service. She has appeared as a commentator on such programs as "Meet the Press" and CNN's "Inside Politics." Her writing awards include the Missouri Medal for Distinguished Service to Journalism and the Award for Excellence of the Society of Magazine Writers. She will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.
-- Alfred J. Koeppel, former Trinity trustee, an attorney, and a partner in Koeppel & Koeppel Real Estate of New York City. A member of Trinity's Class of 1954, Koeppel was a member of the board of trustees for 15 years and served as chairman from 1990-1995. Under his leadership, the board of trustees selected Trinity's 18th president, promoted a vigorous neighborhood strategy, championed an ambitious comprehensive capital campaign, paved the way for the Campus Master Plan, shepherded the Target of Opportunity Program to increase minority faculty, and conducted a major study of the Greek-letter organizations. He also served on the executive committee of Trinity's National Alumni Association and on three Trinity presidential search committees. Together with his brother, Bevin, Class of 1947, he funded the Koeppel Student Center. He will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
--Nguyen Xuan Oanh, an economist, teacher-scholar, and architect of Vietnam's new, market-oriented economic structure. During the Vietnam War, he was South Vietnam's acting prime minister from 1965-1966 and was the country's deputy prime minister for economy and finance from 1963-1967. When the war ended in 1975, Oanh remained in Vietnam and was imprisoned for nine months. He is now a top adviser to Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. He is also president of N.X. Oanh Associates Ltd., a finance and management firm in Vietnam. A former senior economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, he has taught at Harvard University and Trinity College. He will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
-- Henry B. Schacht, a director and senior adviser of E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., LLC, and the chairman-designate of a Lucent Technologies spin-off yet to be named that will sell network equipment and business phone units. Schacht was the first chairman and CEO of Lucent Technologies from 1995-1998 and is a member of the company's board of directors. Prior to Lucent, he worked for 31 years at Cummins Engine Co., where as chairman and CEO for 18 years, he reshaped this leading manufacturer during the difficult years of the 1980s and led it to immense success in the 1990s. He continues at Cummins as a member of the board of directors. Schacht is also chairman of the board of trustees of the Ford Foundation, a fellow of the Yale Corporation, and a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
-- Rose Styron, a poet, journalist, and human rights activist. She is the author of three books of poetry, the most recent of which is By Vineyard Light, published in 1995. She is a member of the boards for the Academy of American Poets, the Fund for Free Expression, the National Leadership Council AIUSA, the Association to Benefit Children, and Equality Now. She is chair of the judges for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, and a member of the advisory boards of Human Rights Watch and American Poetry Review. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a literature panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. She will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.
The Baccalaureate will begin at 10:30 a.m. and Commencement at 2 p.m. Both events are scheduled to be held outdoors in the Quad. The Commencement also will be featured in a delayed webcast on the Trinity website (www.trincoll.edu) on Monday, May 22.
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