Muhlenberg College Announces Honorary Degree Recipients
Muhlenberg College will award honorary doctoral degrees to Sheldon Hackney, Robert Moses, James Steffy, Terri Swearingen and Garry Wills at its 156th Commencement ceremony, Sunday, May 23, at 10 a.m. on the College Green.Tuesday, March 30, 2004 10:48 AM
Muhlenberg College will award honorary doctoral degrees to Sheldon Hackney, Robert Moses, James Steffy, Terri Swearingen and Garry Wills at its 156th Commencement ceremony, Sunday, May 23, at 10 a.m. on the College Green.
Sheldon Hackney will deliver the Commencement address to the Class of 2004 and will receive an honorary doctorate of humanities. A former provost of Princeton University and president of Tulane University, Hackney rose to national prominence when he served as president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1981-1993. Under Hackney's leadership, the university strengthened its focus on undergraduate education while enhancing and augmenting its nationally distinguished graduate and professional schools in business, medicine and the liberal arts. The Hackney era also witnessed extraordinary growth and improvement of the campus and the successful completion of what was, at the time of its announcement, the first capital campaign to set a goal in excess of one billion dollars. Hackney left the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 to accept President Clinton's appointment as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds projects in history, literature, philosophy and other humanities disciplines. As chairman, he endeavored to unify the humanities community, develop fiscally prudent policies and save the organization from Congressional budget cuts while launching a national dialogue on American values. Hackney is now a professor of history at Penn, where he specializes in the history of the American South since the Civil War.
Robert Moses will be awarded an honorary doctorate of mathematics. He earned a master's degree in philosophy from Harvard University and taught mathematics at the Horace Mann School in New York City before leaving teaching in 1961 to work full-time in the civil rights movement. One of the leading figures in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Moses organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. He returned to Harvard in 1976 to earn his doctorate in philosophy, and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1982 to develop the Algebra Project. He now teaches algebra and geometry at Lanier High School in Jackson, Miss.
James Steffy, who served as Muhlenberg's interim president in 2002-03, will receive an honorary doctorate of humanities. Steffy currently is a consultant to the College for capital projects and was vice president for planning and administration 1987-2000. Previously the chair of the music department at Susquehanna University, Steffy was served as dean of academic services at Susquehanna in the early 1980s. He attended the Curtis Institute of Music and earned his bachelor's degree in music education from West Chester University, and his master's in music education from Penn State.
Environmental activist Terri Swearingen will receive an honorary doctorate of humanities. A grass-roots organizer, Swearingen has worked to eliminate a toxic-waste incinerator near an elementary school in her hometown of East Liverpool, Ohio. Her full-time commitment to environmental protection has resulted in an overhaul of federal incinerator regulation, including the development of more stringent permitting standards and limits on the release of toxic waste. For her work, Swearingen was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for North America in 1997 and named one of Time Magazine's 50 Most Promising Young Leaders in 1994.
Pulitzer prizewinner Garry Wills will receive a doctorate of humane letters. The author of 19 books, Wills is an adjunct professor of history at Northwestern University. His book "Lincoln at Gettysburg" won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. Wills is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received the Presidential Medal of the National Endowment for the Humanities and, twice, the National Book Critics Circle Award. Wills earned his bachelor's degree at St. Louis University, a master's degree from Xavier University of Canada, and a master's and doctorate from Yale University.
