Release date: May 11, 2004
Contact: Beverly Cox Clark, Assistant Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-712-8780 or bclark2@emory.edu

Medieval Historian Caroline Walker Bynum Receives Honorary Degree

Atlanta native Caroline Walker Bynum, a nationally recognized scholar for her innovative research in medieval history, received an honorary doctor of letters degree and delivered brief remarks at Emory University’s 159th commencement ceremony Monday, May 10.

She joined three other honorary degree recipients at Emory’s commencement this year: Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, who delivered the keynote address; president emeritus of the U.S. Olympic Committee LeRoy T. Walker; and Emory trustee emeritus James Bryan Williams.

Bynum is known as a gifted and prolific scholar for her innovative study of medieval spirituality, the religious experience of medieval women, and the resurrection of the body in medieval Christianity. Her life is a strong model not only for academic success, but also for combining career and family and persevering in pursuit of one’s passion.

Bynum holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Harvard University. Currently a professor of European medieval history at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., she previously was the Morris and Alma Schapiro Professor of History at Columbia University, and in 1999 she was named University Professor, the first woman to receive Columbia’s highest honor.

Bynum’s numerous awards include those recognizing her exceptional teaching ability, as well as research fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She previously has served as president of the Medieval Academy of America, the American Historical Association and the American Catholic Historical Association.

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For more than a decade Emory has been named one of the country’s top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, a comprehensive metropolitan health care system.

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