Honorary Degree Citations

Patricia Higgins Arnold '66
Kathleen M. Denehy '76
Cokie Roberts
Elspeth Davies Rostow

Patricia Higgins Arnold '66
Doctor of Humane Letters

There's an old saying: "Volunteers are unpaid not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless." For a professional volunteer like Patricia Higgins Arnold, Class of 1966, no truer words could be spoken.

Trish, today and every day we celebrate your career in volunteerism, which began not long after you left Wheaton with a degree in art. As a young wife, mother and tennis player living in Oklahoma, you believed that the most important part of sport is giving children the opportunity to play-and that's what you did. With the Oklahoma City Tennis Patron Group, you raised money to help young players improve, helping some to earn college scholarships. As the first female president of the United States Tennis Association's New England Section, you focused on youth participation, opening the door to countless possibilities.

Your volunteer work for Wheaton beautifully illustrates your desire to expand the horizons of others. In 20 years on the college's Board of Trustees, your leadership on committees like governance, advancement and student affairs has helped to create a better board and a better Wheaton. Through the coeducation transition, your vision carved a path for the future; through the Campaign for Wheaton, which you co-chaired, your commitment made the future possible.

Today your legacy creates opportunities for students and faculty every day. Your work with the Posse Foundation as a national board member and chair of Posse Boston brings remarkable young students into our lives. And through the Arnold Faculty Fund, you and your husband, Christopher, open new avenues of research for faculty members seeking to answer questions in fresh and exciting ways.

Trish, you not only value education, you ensure that education is a value that we share widely. Please accept this honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, as a measure of our respect and admiration for your important service to Wheaton College.

Kathleen M. Denehy '76
Doctor of Laws

You recently told the Boston Globe, "I'm not the type of person to take the first punch. But if you take a shot at me, I'll knock you out-particularly around issues of social justice." Kathleen M. Dennehy, Class of 1976, we're glad you're fighting to make a difference in this world.

For three decades, you have shaped the future of law enforcement in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. You left Wheaton with a degree in government, membership in Phi Beta Kappa, and a new job: computing sentences at the state prison in Concord. While earning a master's degree in public administration from Suffolk University, you rose through the ranks of the Massachusetts Department of Correction, no easy feat in a field still dominated by men. From director of staff development and superintendent of MCI Framingham-the country's oldest prison for women-to associate commissioner of health services and deputy commissioner, you excelled. That distinguished work was recognized in 1998 with the Correctional Association of Massachusetts' "Jim Justice Award" for professional performance and sustained excellence in the field of criminal justice, and again in 2004, when Gov. Mitt Romney appointed you as commissioner.

Under your leadership, the Department of Correction has developed and implemented major programs to track accountability and change the culture of the correction system. You instituted a zero-tolerance policy on prisoner abuse, sought additional funds for mental health therapies, and elevated the status of reentry and job training programs for prisoners. You are recognized nationally for your sense of duty to all members of our society.

We honor you today for seeing hope and opportunity where many others would not. Please accept this honorary degree, Doctor of Laws, as a measure of our deep respect and gratitude.

Cokie Roberts
Doctor of Laws

You are as original as your given name--Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs--and as forthright as the simpler name by which we all know you, Cokie Roberts.

You are a trailblazer-part of a pioneering generation of women who broke through barriers to excel in national broadcast journalism. In our cars and in our kitchens, we have heard your voice on National Public Radio for nearly three decades. As an award-winning correspondent for NPR and an on-air commentator for ABC News, you have been our reliable witness to the proceedings of Congress, covering that institution with brilliance and wit.

As the daughter of two U.S. representatives, you were "born to understand Congress," in the words of one colleague. You studied political science at Wellesley College, but soon returned to the Hill. Your reporting there has won you multiple awards.

In a nation of red states and blue, you help us see that the truth is multi-hued, and you bring this sense of balance to everything you do. In your book, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters, you explored the many roles that women play, as workers, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and friends. Each of these roles has been vital to you. As you once told a graduating class at your alma mater, "You can do it all. There are times when you have to not do it all at once."

In a cynical age, you remain hopeful. You told an interviewer, "I think the impulse is to trash the Congress, to always tear down the institution. I just love the institution. I want it to be better."

For inspiring us all to be better, we salute you. Cokie Roberts, please accept this honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Elspeth Davies Rostow
Doctor of Letters

President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, "Education is opportunity." His observation strikes us as particularly true when we try to describe what you have achieved in your academic career, Elspeth Rostow. For more than 60 years, you have created opportunity through your teaching, scholarship and service.

A child of academe, you grew up in the atmosphere of Columbia University and completed undergraduate studies at Barnard, where you held your first teaching post immediately after earning a master's degrees from Radcliffe. So began an academic career that has spanned institutions in the U.S. and abroad, and has included many honors for outstanding teaching and scholarship.

An internationally recognized expert on public policy and the American presidency, you have taught at the University of Texas, Austin, since 1969. You describe your job as enticing students into the world of ideas; you do it with great skill. And as dean of the university's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, you helped win national recognition for the school's commitment to public service. The university's alumni association presented you with its 2005 Distinguished Service Award for your contributions.

Always, you apply your scholarship to create new possibilities for others. President Ronald Reagan appointed you to the Board of the U.S. Institute for Peace, which you later chaired, to name just one of the many initiatives you have guided. You have traveled the globe as a teacher, and you have served your hometown through the Austin Project. With your husband, Walt Rostow, the scholar and presidential advisor, you created opportunities in community development that will strengthen Austin for years to come.

You have said that, "It's a privilege to share with your students, with your colleagues, with your community whatever you have observed." Really, the privilege is ours, Elspeth Rostow. We are honored to present you with the honorary degree Doctor of Letters.

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