Honorary Degree Citations
Deborah Bial
Bob Herbert
Freeman Hrabowski III
Kathleen M. O'Donnell '77
Deborah Bial
Doctor of Humane Letters
A true leader inspires, dreams big, fights hard and takes risks. Deborah Bial, you are a natural leader. As president and founder of The Posse Foundation, you have worked tirelessly to support inner city students in attaining a college education.
You started Posse at the age of 23 when a student said to you, "I never would have dropped out if I had my posse with me." From your work with inner city students in New York City, you understood the challenges they faced at elite colleges--that getting in was only half the battle. You knew they needed resources and support to excel, including a posse of friends.
The results of your vision are extraordinary. Posse has grown from five students enrolled at one university into a national organization with more than 1,500 scholars at 26 partner institutions, including Wheaton. Through Posse, you transform talented young people into campus leaders, national scholars and the hope of the future. Our campuses and our world are all the richer for it.
And through your own scholarship, you help other educators see the full potential of students who may not fit narrow notions of academic excellence and intellectual promise. While earning your doctorate at Harvard, you designed an assessment tool that challenges traditional standardized tests and identifies talented students who might have been overlooked.
Deborah Bial, thank you for shining a light on the inequalities in our society, and for creating opportunities for young people who have so much to offer. It is with deep gratitude that we present you with this honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
Bob Herbert
Doctor of Letters
The responsibility of a newspaper columnist, you have said, is "relentless." Bob Herbert, you have met that responsibility with an equally relentless voice for justice.
For the past 14 years, your op-ed columns in the New York Times-- more than 1,300 of them--have spoken out for those who are seldom heard--the poor and the homeless; the forgotten veterans and the wrongly accused; the victims of violence in our mean streets and in our own homes.
Growing up in New Jersey, you took to reading at an early age, discovering both Charles Dickens and the morning paper. You soon learned the power of stories to change lives--and minds. You have leveraged that power as a reporter, editor and columnist for 37 years, first at the Star-Ledger, later at the New York Daily News and NBC, and now at the Times.
"I believe in the idea that we are all in this struggle together," you have said. "We should view the nation as a community of Americans, not as 300 million individuals."
Week after week, you call upon your fellow citizens to pay attention to the state of our union, and you do it not by preaching, but by telling the stories of ordinary people.
Bob Herbert, we are grateful for your tireless voice, which keeps our ears tuned not just to what is wrong with our world, but to how much better we can make it. We are honored to award you the honorary Doctor of Letters.
Freeman Hrabowski III
Doctor of Letters
"You are special and you could be even better."
Your school teacher mother used to say that to you, Freeman Hrabowski, and you have taken her message to heart. Indeed, your life's work demonstrates that you believe in the individual's power to achieve, and in each person's ability to grow continuously.
You learned the value of education early. At the age of 19, you graduated from Hampton Institute with highest honors in mathematics; by 24, you had earned your doctorate in higher education administration. And so began a distinguished career that has led you to the presidency of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, an institution you have transformed with the conviction that it's cool to be smart. To cite just one example: your university fields a championship team in chess, not football.
The belief that there is always room for improvement also drives your commitment to racial, ethnic and gender equality. At the age of 12, you spent five nights in jail for marching with Martin Luther King Jr. In graduate school, you noticed how few African Americans were your peers in advanced study. That observation has guided your efforts to promote equality through education. Your university's Meyerhoff program stresses the importance of minority achievement in math and science. And your service as an advisor to the National Science Foundation and many other organizations touches thousands of lives.
Freeman Hrabowski, in your words and actions, you encourage us to aspire to the better angels of our nature. We are honored to present you with the honorary degree Doctor of Letters.
Kathleen M. O'Donnell '77
Doctor of Laws
Securing the "blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity" requires leaders of courage, commitment and creativity. In your public life and personal service, Kathleen O'Donnell, you epitomize steadfast dedication to the ideals of equality, justice and community.
A magna cum laude graduate in government at Wheaton, you earned your law degree at Suffolk University and began building a reputation for skillfully representing clients and for advancing the cause of equality under the law. A nationally recognized expert on insurance reform, you have testified before Congress and state legislatures, and spoken to numerous professional groups, to promote individual rights.
Here in the Bay State, you have served as president of both the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, something few others have done. No coincidence, say colleagues, who credit you with helping the state make major improvements in such critical areas as education for jurors, evaluation of judges and legal representation for indigent defendants. With your leadership, the association also opposed the curtailment of Americans' civil liberties following September 11 and supported recognition of marriage for all citizens.
In your own community of Lowell, many immigrants benefit from your advocacy on their behalf. And many local organizations--from high schools to the rape crisis service organizations and pastoral counseling services--gain from your dedication to public service.
"Kathy exemplifies the meaning of a life of service," says a classmate and friend. We wholeheartedly agree, and we are pleased and proud to present you with the honorary Doctor of Laws.