| Commencement 2007
July/August 2007
President Levin talked about China, Emanuel Ax and Julie Harris were made honorary Elis, and the university minted 3,745 new alumni. (Click here to read President Levin's 2007 Baccalaureate Address.)
Recipients of teaching prizes
Robert F. Thompson '55, '65PhD, Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the
History of Art: the Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize.
Alicia Schmidt-Camacho, assistant professor of American studies: the
Sarai Ribicoff Award for the Encouragement of Teaching in Yale College.
Richard Lalli '86MusAD, associate professor (adjunct) of music: the
Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities.
Keith Darden, assistant professor of political science: the Lex Hixon
'63 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences.
Mark A. Johnson, Arthur T. Kemp Professor of Chemistry: the Dylan Hixon
'88 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Natural Sciences.
William Yu Zhou, senior lector in East Asian languages and literatures:
the Richard H. Brodhead Prize for Teaching Excellence by a Lecturer or Lector.
Recipients of honorary degrees
Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chair of the humanitarian organization
BRAC, whose work has "improved the lives, livelihood, and lifespan of many
millions of Bangladeshis, particularly girls and women," for
"dedication to your country and your pioneering work in alleviating
poverty and human suffering": Doctor of Humane Letters.
Meyer Howard Abrams, literary critic, who has "the rare capacity
to see at once the whole and the parts, explicating both with astonishing
clarity," for works including his masterpiece on English Romanticism, The
Mirror and the Lamp, which
"stands among the great monuments of modern literary scholarship":
Doctor of Humanities.
Emanuel Ax, "internationally acclaimed as one of the world's
greatest pianists," for his "poetic sensitivity, pristine technique,
and intelligent interpretation" and for working "tirelessly and
passionately as an advocate of new music and music education": Doctor of
Music.
John Arthur Ferejohn, the Caroline S. G. Munro Professor in Political
Science at Stanford and "one of the preeminent political scientists of our
time," for research on government that has "linked the humanities and
the social sciences and, in so doing, given us deeper insight into our
political systems": Doctor of Social Science.
Richard Gilder '54, stockbroker and "the most creative of
philanthropists," a collector of American historical documents who has
supported the renaissance of Central Park, the renovation of the American
Museum of Natural History, and Yale -- both on his own and as the leader of a
privately invested class fund that yielded $90 million at the class's 50th
reunion: Doctor of Humane Letters.
Julie Harris '47Dra, actor and "one of the most accomplished
artists in the history of the American theater," who, in "embodying
such remarkable characters as Frankie Addams, Sally Bowles, Joan of Arc, Mary
Todd Lincoln, and Emily Dickinson," has "enriched our understanding
of the human condition": Doctor of Fine Arts.
Mary-Claire King, professor of genome sciences and medicine, University
of Washington, a "gifted teacher, researcher, and role model" who
demonstrated the existence of inherited mutations that cause breast cancer,
thus enabling "countless women to receive needed screening, early
diagnosis, and preventive care": Doctor of Medical Sciences.
Pius Nkonzo Langa, chief justice of the Constitutional Court of South
Africa, who rose from "the yoke of apartheid" and has worked "as
a guarantor of democracy, protecting and defending [his] country's new
constitution and helping to transform the courts from agents of oppression into
guardians of justice": Doctor of Laws.
Robert Langer, Institute Professor, MIT, whose "contribution to
the field of biomedical engineering is unequaled" and who has pioneered
new technologies ranging from transdermal patches to microchips that deliver
precise drug doses to "manufactured" muscle and organ tissue: Doctor
of Science.
Peter Matthiessen '50, naturalist and author, who through his writings
has "shown us the beauty of species and the importance of biodiversity"
and "chronicled changes in the earth's landscape, the fragility of life,
and the wonder of nature": Doctor of Letters. 
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