Jean Jones Beard, Class of 1965, you have one of the most enviable jobs on the planet. You give away money and change people's lives in the most profound ways. "This is what makes life worth living," you've explained, adding that the hard work of building relationships pays off when you can send a deserving young student to college or help a struggling family negotiate a crisis. To so many people, you are a lifeline to something positive, something better. You make your classmates and college so proud.

Hard work is no stranger to you; perhaps that's why you excel today. You left Wheaton with a degree in European history and began the sometimes difficult, always rewarding task of raising a family. With the support of Anson Beard, Jr., now a distinguished Wheaton trustee, and children Ashley, Anson and Jaime, you then earned a master's degree in social work at Yeshiva University and worked more than a decade as a clinical social worker. You cared for cancer patients and the mentally challenged in New York, and later with the Family Center in Connecticut.

Today, as a philanthropist focused on improving the lives of women and girls around the world, your dedication is stunning. Drawing on your own experience with Ashley's mental illness and on your professional work, you developed and funded the Family Diversity Project's "Nothing to Hide," a book and exhibit on families dealing with mental illness. To extend the reach of your philanthropy, you founded the Icarus Foundation, which provides significant financial support for groups like the Global Fund for Women, the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts, and "Take the Lead," the innovative Mount Holyoke College program that introduces young girls to leadership enhancement. But you don't just fund these groups; you join them—as a donor, a mentor, a volunteer. In your words, "I do whatever I am called to do."

Of course, Wheaton also has been honored by your continued connection. You gave the college the Beard Lobby and Concourse in Watson in honor of Anson. You helped make the Beard Fieldhouse, Beard Hall and the Beard Scholars realities that will benefit students for many years to come. And you made Wheaton new legend when you and your twin sister Lee, a student at Wells College, admitted to trading places—and courses—in college.

"There's nothing more important than education," you recently said. "Wheaton taught me this." But Wheaton has learned from you as well. We have learned how passion becomes power, how learning becomes a lifetime of service to others, and how a sense of humor holds us together. Jean, in recognition of our great esteem for you, please accept this honorary doctor of laws degree.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Doctor of Laws

In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston wrote of a character embarking on a "great journey to the horizons in search of people." Her words had resonance for you, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, when you penned your memoir, the story of your own journey to the horizons "in search of people, justice, equity and love."

In 1961, you were one of two African-American students to enroll in the University of Georgia—the first in that institution's 176-year history. Through the rioting, the tear gas and the taunting, you kept your eyes on the horizon, and walked on.

Yours was a pioneering role in the integration of higher education, yet you reflected many years later, "You don't do something like this to make history, you do it to change things."

For even as you walked into history, you were following a simple dream—of becoming a reporter, like Brenda Starr of the comic strips. And, as you have written, nobody told you not to dream.

As a journalist, you have achieved milestones that Brenda herself would envy.

Graduating from UGA with a degree in journalism, you soon began working at The New Yorker, advancing to the position of staff writer. Later you worked as a metropolitan reporter for the New York Times, covering the urban black community and earning numerous awards.

Your horizons stretched to broadcast journalism when you became a correspondent for PBS, first for "The MacNeil/Lehrer Report" and later for "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." Over the course of nearly 20 years, you garnered well-deserved recognition as one of television's premier journalists, earning two Emmys and a Peabody Award for "Apartheid's People," a series about life in South Africa.

As bureau chief and correspondent for CNN in Johannesburg, you documented the vast and complex continent of Africa, including the struggle for equality in South Africa. Your reporting there reflects the courage and passion that marks everything you do, as you "look to the people to tell the stories."

We thank you, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, for keeping our eyes trained on the horizon—the place where earth meets sky, where all things are possible. We salute you today with this honorary doctor of laws degree.

Alexandra Marshall '65
Doctor of Humane Letters

In the popular imagination, the writer is a solitary figure who withdraws from the world to polish and present to us a truth that can only be discerned from a distance. Not you, Alexandra Marshall. You have penned a different plot for the novelist: engaging the world with your desire to learn and grow, a refreshing sense of humor and a genius for helping others reach their better selves.

When you came to Wheaton it was with the dreams of a dancer. In retrospect, we see that you also brought the sensibility of a writer eager to delve into the variety of perspectives that the liberal arts offers. After graduating with a major in French and a minor in English, you explored many things: Japanese classical dance in Kyoto, teaching French in New Hampshire, and helping others through service with Operation Crossroads Africa. And then you discovered your passion for writing, learning the craft by producing three novels before your first, Gus in Bronze, was published. Five more books, and numerous articles and reviews, have followed in the years since.

Each of your books reflects your capacity for helping others to grow and displays your wide-ranging interests in learning about new worlds—from corporate mergers to the seasonal cycles of a New England pond. In prose as elegant and eloquent as dance, your books conjure people we feel we know, who are struggling with the complexity of modern life, love and marriage. Placed in challenging circumstances, your characters strive to be good, even when it seems nearly beyond their powers. In the end, these people—whose wit and wisdom reflect their creator—often find their best selves, thanks to your guidance.

You play the role of teacher, mentor and guide beyond the boundaries of the printed page, too. With your husband, author and columnist James Carroll, you founded the Ploughshares International Fiction Writing Seminar and took turns directing the program aimed at nurturing writers. In the Boston Public Schools, you coordinate the essay judging for the Max Warburg Courage Curriculum and you have been a willing lecturer to college students, including those here at your own alma mater. And with James, with whom you celebrate today your 28th wedding anniversary, you have raised two children and created an extended family of close friends.

As a writer, you hold up a mirror in which we can see the warp and woof of our lives more clearly, reflecting not only our challenges but also our triumphs. As a teacher, you encourage your students to reach higher, to realize their full potential. Lexa, please accept this honorary degree, which we award in tribute to your artistry and profound humanity.

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