HONORARY DEGREE COMMITTEE

2005-06 REPORT

Recommendation to the Senate

Working in concert with President Wagner, the Honorary Degree Committee recommended that six candidates be placed in a pool to be given honorary degrees in 2007 and beyond. Rather than putting forward a specific “slate” of 2-3 candidates for 2007, the Committee believed that with the separate selection of a speaker and our experience with candidates who, for various reasons, cannot or decline to attend Emory’s commencement, the President and university are better served by having a pool of approved candidates from which to choose in future years. A larger pool offers the President flexibility in selecting an appropriate mix of candidates for honorary degrees around the speaker and a better opportunity to plan when candidates either decline or are unable to attend Emory’s commencement event. The Committee’s recommendation was consistent with the Trustee’s expectations that only 2-4 candidates would receive honorary degrees each year.

The Committee received over forty new nominations this year and a consensus formed around the six recommended candidates. In future years the committee is unlikely to recommend as many as six candidates in order to ensure that all of those recommended will have an opportunity to appear. The committee believed the President’s planning would be facilitated by adding six candidates, diverse in their areas of achievement and background, to the pool.

Actions

The University Senate endorsed the Honorary Degree Committee recommendations and they were forwarded to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees. The Academic Affairs Committee accepted the recommendation of the Senate and forwarded the slate of nominees to the Board’s Executive Committee.

Transition

A new chair of the Honorary Degree Committee will be appointed by the Senate. Members rotating off the committee after three years of service will be replaced, with consideration for representation across the university and maintaining a manageable size.

2005-2006 Committee

Name School Term of Service

Patrick Allitt College 03-06

Susan Ashmore Oxford 04-07

Virginia Cain (ex officio) Library (Archivist)

Wright Caughman Medicine 03-06

Robert Ethridge (ex officio) EOP

Katherine Ford (grad student) GSAS 05-06

Laura Hardman Jones (ex officio) Trustee

Susan Henry-Crowe Dean of Chapel 05-08

Steven Hochman Carter Center 05-08

Kembrel Jones Business School 03-06

Richard Levinson Public Health 03-06

Deborah Lipstadt College 03-06

Gerald Lowrey (ex officio) Assn Emory Alumni

Rosemary Magee (ex officio) Office VP & Secretary

Joyce Murray Nursing 04-07

Darryl Neill College 03-06

Amy Patterson (student) Public Health 05-06

Wendell Reilly (ex officio) Trustee

Michael Rogers (ex officio) Senate President 05-06

Robin Schreiber Law 05-08

William Size College 03-06

Luther Smith Theology 04-07

Olivia Smith, coordinator Office VP & Secretary

Mary Standen (student) College 05-06

Dee Wilson (ex officio) Office VP & Secretary