Commencement 2009
July/August 2009
Recipients of Honorary Degrees
Richard
Serra '62BFA, '64MFA, a sculptor whose work, "massive in scale, intimate in
involvement, and delicate in balance," uses "materials, time, and space to make
art that challenges, disorients, and surprises": Doctor of Fine Arts.
William
Drayton '70LLB, founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, who has "help[ed]
people around the world help themselves" to advance "economic development,
environmental sustainability, public health, and human rights": Doctor of
Humane Letters.
John
McPhee, a "versatile, adventurous, and incorrigibly curious" writer of
"luminous prose," a "one-man liberal education" who has "shaped the genre of
literary journalism": Doctor of Letters.
Gustavo
Gutierrez, a Dominican priest, writer, professor, and "the father of liberation
theology" who has "challenged the conscience of all faithful men and women" by
calling for "an end to the injustice of poverty": Doctor of Divinity.
Alison
Richard, an anthropologist and Yale’s longest-serving provost, who, as the
first woman to head the University of Cambridge, has "reshaped the role …
to provide true leadership, … artfully melding innovation with tradition":
Doctor of Humane Letters.
Sofia
Gubaidulina, a composer who "persevered through decades of state-imposed censorship,
writing music that received no public hearing" in the Soviet Union—work for
which she is now celebrated "as a leading contemporary composer": Doctor of
Music.
Leroy
Hood, immunologist and innovator, who has devised "new tools and techniques to
sequence genes and proteins" and thus "accelerated the pace, increased the
accuracy, and reduced the cost of biomedical research": Doctor of Medical
Sciences.
Thomas
Schelling, Nobel Laureate in Economics, who has used game theory to illuminate
"some of the most vexing problems of our times: nuclear proliferation, arms
control, racial discrimination, terrorism, and climate change": Doctor of
Social Science.
Bill
T. Jones, "one of the leading choreographers and most inspired dancers of our
time," who "celebrates the human form in motion" and uses "its power to reveal
truths both personal and communal": Doctor of Fine Arts.
Hillary
Rodham Clinton '73JD, Secretary of State, who, throughout her career, has
"called the nation’s attention to things that matter: health care, education,
and the rights of women and children": Doctor of Laws.

Recipients of Teaching Prizes
Steven
B. Smith, the Alfred Cowles Professor of Government and professor of
philosophy: the Lex Hixon '63 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social
Sciences.
Michael
Frame, professor (adjunct) of mathematics: the Dylan Hixon '88 Prize for
Teaching Excellence in the Sciences and Mathematics.
Fred
Strebeigh '74, senior lecturer in the department of English and the School of
Forestry and Environmental Studies: the Richard H. Brodhead '68 Prize for
Teaching Excellence by Non-Ladder Faculty.
Mark
S. Mooseker, the Ross Granville Harrison Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and
Developmental Biology: the Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize
for Promoting Student Learning Across the Curriculum.
Beverly
F. Gage '94, assistant professor of history: the Sarai Ribicoff '79 Award for
the Encouragement of Teaching in Yale College.
Lillian
Guerra, assistant professor of history: the Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize for
Teaching Excellence in the Humanities.

|