Honorary Degree

Tag: Honorary Degree

Former U.S. Ambassador, International Banking Expert Discusses World Economy at Lawrence University

Former U.S. Ambassador to India and U.S. Treasury official David Mulford discusses the state of the world economy Tuesday, April 13 in an address at Lawrence University.

Mulford will examine the ongoing economic and financial crisis in the major industrial countries and its lingering effect on the global economy at 1:30 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema. The event is free and open to the public.

David-Mulford_web
David Mulford

A 1959 graduate of Lawrence, Mulford was appointed Ambassador to India in 2004 by President Bush and served until February 2009. He joined the U.S. State Department after spending 11 years as chairman international of the London-based banking firm Credit Suisse First Boston, where he directed worldwide, large-scale privatization business and other corporate and government advisory assignments.

Since leaving his ambassador’s post, Mulford has returned to Credit Suisse in London as vice chairman of the bank’s international division.

Prior to his ambassadorial appointment, Mulford served in public service as a senior international economic policy official in the U.S. Treasury Department under Secretaries Donald Regan, James Baker and Nicholas Brady.

His financial experience also includes eight years as managing director and head of international finance at the Boston-based investment bank White, Weld & Co., Inc. In 1974, he was named senior investment advisor to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), where he oversaw the management and development of investment programs of Saudi oil revenues until 1983.

His work in both the public and private sectors has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including the Legion d’Honneur presented by the president of France, the Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Secretary of the Treasury in recognition of extraordinary service and benefit to the Treasury Department and the nation, the Order of May for Merit from the president of Argentina and The Officer’s Cross of the Medal of Merit presented by the president of Poland.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in economics from Lawrence, Mulford earned a master’s degree in political science from Boston University and a Ph.D. from Oxford University. Lawrence recognized him with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1984. A football and basketball standout as an undergraduate, Mulford also was inducted into Lawrence’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.

Abigail Disney Receiving Honorary Degree, Delivers Convocation “Peace is Loud”

Award-winning film producer, activist and humanitarian Abigail Disney will be recognized Thursday, January 28 by Lawrence University with an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

As part of the degree-granting ceremony in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, Disney will deliver the convocation “Peace is Loud,” an address based on her award-winning 2008 documentary “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” which examines Liberia’s civil war.

A screening of “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” will be held in the Warch Campus Center cinema at 1 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session with Disney at 2 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

Disney’s film chronicles the inspirational story of the courageous women of Liberia, whose efforts played a critical role in bringing an end to a long and bloody civil war and eventually led to the 2005 election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as Liberia’s president, Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state.

Disney served as the producer of “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” which has earned critical praise and collected more than 15 awards, including the Best Documentary Award at New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival, the Cowboy Award Winner – Audience Choice Award at the Jackson Hole Film Festival, the Social Justice Award for Documentary Film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and the Golden Butterfly Award at the Movies that Matter Festival.

She founded and serves as president of the New York City-based Daphne Foundation, which supports grassroots and emerging organizations that deal with the causes and consequences of poverty, focusing on the creation and implementation of long-term solutions to intractable social problems.

The grandniece of Walt Disney, founder of the Disney media and entertainment empire, she also has played a leadership role in a number of other social and political organizations, among them the New York Women’s Foundation, from which she recently retired as chair, the Roy Disney Family Foundation, the White House Project, the Global Fund for Women, the Fund for the City of New York and the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Disney earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a master’s degree from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. from Columbia University.

LU Panel Discussion Follows Screening of Disney Documentary

A panel of three Lawrence University faculty members and a Sudanese student will lead a discussion of the award-winning documentary film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” Wednesday, Jan. 20 immediately following an 8 p.m. screening of the movie in the Warch Campus Center cinema. Both events are free and open to the public.

Claudena Skran, associate professor of government and Edwin and Ruth West Professor of Economics and Social Science, will moderate the discussion. Joining Skran on the panel will be Judith Sarnecki, professor of French, Alison Guenther Pal, post-doctoral fellow of German and film studies and sophomore Nidal Kram, who grew up in Sudan.

Produced by Abigail Disney, the film chronicles the inspirational story of the courageous women of Liberia, whose efforts played a critical role in bringing an end to a long and bloody civil war (1989-96) and restored peace to the country. The end of the war eventually led to the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as Liberia’s president, the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa.

“Pray the Devil Back to Hell” has collected more than 15 awards since its 2008 release, including the Best Documentary Award at New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival and the Social Justice Award for Documentary Film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Lawrence will recognize Disney with an honorary degree on Thursday, Jan. 28 in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Following the degree presentation, Disney will deliver the convocation “Peace is Loud.”

Lawrence University Recognizing Film Producer, Philanthropist Abigail Disney with Honorary Degree

Award-winning film producer, activist, and philanthropist Abigail Disney will be recognized Thursday, January 28, 2010 by Lawrence University with an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

Abigail-Disney_web.jpg As part of the degree-granting ceremony in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, Disney will deliver the convocation “Peace is Loud,” an address based on her award-winning 2008 documentary film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell.”

“Lawrence University is proud to be welcoming a woman of Abigail Disney’s passion, abilities and stature to campus and presenting her with an honorary degree,” said Lawrence President Jill Beck. “As we prepare our students for lives of achievement and meaningful citizenship, Ms. Disney epitomizes the ideals to which we hope they will aspire.”

In conjunction with Disney’s address, multiple showings of the documentary “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” will be held in the Warch Campus Center cinema in January: 1/7, 12 noon; 1/12, 7 p.m.; 1/20, 8 p.m., 1/28, 1 p.m. A special panel of Lawrence faculty and students will discuss issues raised in the film following the 8 p.m. screening on Jan. 20. All events are free and open to the public.

“I am so thrilled and honored to have been chosen for this honorary degree,” said Disney. “It was a bolt from the blue and a shot in the arm, to mix a couple of metaphors and I am so happy that it came from a wonderful and vibrant institution like Lawrence.”

praythedevilbacktohell_poster.jpgDisney’s film chronicles the inspirational story of the courageous women of Liberia, whose efforts played a critical role in bringing an end to a long and bloody civil war and restored peace to their shattered country.

She served as the producer of “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” which earned critical praise and collected more than 15 awards, including the Best Documentary Award at New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival, the Cowboy Award Winner – Audience Choice Award at the Jackson Hole Film Festival, the Social Justice Award for Documentary Film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and the Golden Butterfly Award at the Movies that Matter Festival.

Disney founded and serves as president of the New York City-based Daphne Foundation, which supports grassroots and emerging organizations that deal with the causes and consequences of poverty, focusing on the creation and implementation of long-term solutions to intractable social problems.

She also has played a leadership role in a number of other social and political organizations, among them the New York Women’s Foundation, from which she recently retired as chair, the Roy Disney Family Foundation, the White House Project, the Global Fund for Women, the Fund for the City of New York and the Ms. Foundation for Women. In 1998, when the foundation’s namesake publication, Ms. Magazine, faced financial hardship, Disney joined with magazine founder Gloria Steinem and a group of other investors to form Liberty Media for Women, which secured the magazine’s future.

The grandniece of Walt Disney, founder of the Disney media and entertainment empire, she is the vice chair of the board of Shamrock Holdings Incorporated, a professional investment company that manages more than $1.5 billion in assets.

Disney earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a master’s degree from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Lawrence University Recognizing New York Times Columnist Bob Herbert with Honorary Degree

APPLETON, WIS. — Award-winning New York Times op-ed columnist Bob Herbert will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree Sunday, June 14 by Lawrence University at the college’s 160th commencement. As part of commencement exercises, Herbert also will address the graduating seniors.

Herbert has written a twice-a-week op-ed column on politics, urban affairs and social trends for the Times since joining the paper in June 1993. Prior to that, Herbert spent two years as a national correspondent for NBC, reporting regularly on “The Today Show” and “NBC Nightly News.”

He launched his broadcast career in 1990 as a founding panelist of “Sunday Edition,” a weekly discussion program on WCBS-TV in New York and also served as host of “Hotline,” a weekly hour-long issues program on WNYC-TV.

Born in Brooklyn, Herbert began his journalism career in 1970 as a reporter with The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., and was promoted to night city editor in 1973. He joined The Daily News in New York in 1976 as a general assignment reporter. He later served as national correspondent, consumer affairs editor, city hall bureau chief and city editor. In 1985, he became a columnist and was appointed to the paper’s editorial board. His column ran in The Daily News until February 1993.

Herbert has been recognized with numerous awards for his work, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors award in 1988 for distinguished deadline writing, Columbia University School of Journalism’s 1989 Mike Berger Award, which honors distinguished and enterprising reporting by New York journalists and most recently, the 2008 David Nyhan Prize from the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University for excellence in political reporting. In 1993, Herbert served as chairman of the Pulitzer Prize jury for spot news reporting.

He is the author of the 2005 book “Promises Betrayed: Waking Up from the American Dream,” a collection of essays in which he examines the lives of ordinary citizens, minorities and children who are facing real problems in a society Herbert argues too often fails to meet the American creed of fairness and justice.

Herbert earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the State University of New York (Empire State College). He has taught journalism at Brooklyn College and the Columbia University School of Journalism.

Lawrence University Honors Appleton Native for Environmental Leadership

APPLETON, WIS. — Appleton native Virginia Purdy was an “environmentalist” decades before the term came into vogue.

In recognition of her commitment to preserving the environment and her contributions to conservation, Lawrence University is awarding Purdy an honorary doctor of humane letters degree Monday, April 20 to kick off a week-long celebration of Earth Day.

Purdy, 92, who lives in Buffalo, Wyo., will be presented the degree in absentia. Lawrence senior Megan Bjella of Appleton, who embodied Purdy’s spirit of land stewardship during an 18-month-long tenure as director of the Sustainable Lawrence University Garden, will accept the degree on Purdy’s behalf. Provost David Burrows will confer the honorary degree during ceremonies beginning at 6:30 p.m. in Science Hall 102.

“As the country prepares to commemorate another Earth Day, it’s most appropriate that Lawrence recognize Virginia Purdy, whose life has been a reflection of her deep love of nature and concern for the environment,” said Lawrence President Jill Beck. “We are proud to celebrate her leadership and honored to count her among our alumni.”

The only child of Danish immigrants who settled on a farm in south Appleton in the 1920s — the current site of the Copps grocery store on Calumet St. — Purdy graduated from Appleton High School and attended Lawrence as a conservatory of music student in the late 1930s.

After leaving Lawrence, Purdy moved west and began a successful career as a rancher. Today, the Purdy Ranch, a working cattle ranch outside Buffalo, totals more than 23,000 acres, with two indoor riding arenas as well as large herds of deer, elk, moose and antelope. In 2000, she put more than 5,000 acres into the Purdy Family Foundation for use as an outdoor ecological classroom by the University of Wyoming.

As early as the 1940s, Purdy became involved in water conservation issues. She established two reservoirs on the ranch, built an irrigation system that is still in use and served on several state commissions that dealt with water issues.

“I just believe it’s the duty of anyone who loves the land to preserve it the way nature has given it to us,” said Purdy. “I never expected anyone to acknowledge me as a great benefactor. I like to do things quietly and humbly because I like saving and preserving the natural environment and the wildlife in it.

“It is important to me to live in an environment that feeds the soul and takes care of the body,” she added. “If you take care of the land, it will take care of you.”

She is an ardent supporter of numerous conservation and environmental organizations, among them Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.

In 1972, Purdy became the first woman elected to the Buffalo city council and was appointed mayor in May, 1974, serving until December of that year. She is the only woman in Buffalo history to hold the office. She also was a member of Lawrence’s Board of Trustees from 1985 until 2002, when she was named trustee emerita.

The Purdy family has a long history with Lawrence. Her late husband, R. Hampton Purdy, attended Lawrence in the 1930s, her mother-in-law, Annette Purdy, was a member of the class of 1910, her brother-in-law, Bruce Purdy, is associated with the class of 1939 and her nephew, Steve Purdy, graduated from Lawrence in 1967.