Honorary Degree Recipients

Muhlenberg College will award honorary doctoral degrees to William Cronon, the late Jonathan C. Messerli and Gladys Mouro at its 157 th Commencement ceremony, Sunday, May 22, at 10 a.m. on the College Green.

William Cronon will be an honorary doctorate of humane letters. An accomplished author, Cronon has published research that seeks to understand the history of human interactions with the natural world. He was awarded the Francis Parkman Prize of the Society of American Historians in 1994, the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize for the best literary work of non-fiction published in 1991, the Bancroft Prize for the best work of American history published in 1991, the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Award from the Forest History Society in 1991-1992 and the George Perkins Marsh Prize from the American Society for Environmental History in 1993.

In July 1992, Cronon became the Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison after having served for more than a decade as a member of the Yale History Department.

Cronon received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and holds an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Yale, and a D.Phil. from Oxford University. Cronon has been a Rhodes Scholar, Danforth Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow and MacArthur Fellow; he has won prizes for his teaching at both Yale and Wisconsin, and in 1999 was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. He currently serves on the Governing Council of The Wilderness Society and on the National Board of the Trust for Public Land.

Former Muhlenberg College President Dr. Jonathan C. Messerli , who passed away earlier this year, will also receive an honorary doctorate in humane letters, which will be accepted by one of his children. A respected educator, artisan and scholar, was widely known as a positive leader in American higher education. Messerli’s academic career included professorships at the University of Washington and the Teachers College at Columbia University and as dean of education at Hofstra and Fordham Universities. His first college presidency was at Susquehanna University in 1977, followed by a second college presidency at Muhlenberg College from 1984 to 1992.

Messerli’s accomplishments as president of Muhlenberg are noteworthy, as he initiated long-range strategic planning, comprehensive marketing and intensified student recruitment, long before these practices were widely embraced in higher education. He also was renowned for his development of Trexler Library, the renovation of three of the College’s oldest buildings and the successful completion of Muhlenberg’s first $1 million annual fund campaign.

A graduate of Concordia Teachers College in 1947, Messerli went on to achieve a master of arts from Washington University in 1952 and a Ph.D. in the history of American education from Harvard University in 1963. Dr. Messerli served on the boards of Bethphage Mission in Nebraska, the Special Olympics in Pennsylvania and was on the founding board of Lehigh Valley Ambassador Bank. At the time of his death, he was a member of the boards of the Lehigh Valley Historical Society and the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia.

A skilled nurse and authority figure, Gladys Mouro will also receive an honorary doctorate in humane letters. She is currently an Assistant Hospital Director for Nursing Services at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) in Lebanon where she is r esponsible for the delivery of patient care. In addition, her extensive nursing experience at the Beirut Medical Center covers a period of 29 years, and she is currently responsible for a staff of over 1,000 employees.

A respected authority in the field of nursing, Mouro has been the keynote speaker in symposiums on nursing throughout the world. Her awards have been many, including the American Organization of Nurse Executives Organizational Innovation Nursing Award in 2003 and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Alumni Leadership Award in 2001. In 1994, the government of Lebanon presented Mouro with the Silver Order of Health Merit award. Also in 1994, the Arab countries presented her an award for health services provided throughout her nursing career. Her skills were tested in many ways keeping the hospital operational during 16 years of civil war in Lebanon.

Mouro received her B.S.N. from the American University of Beirut in 1976 and her master’s in 1983 from the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, Lebanon Health Care Management Association and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor society of nursing.