Harvard Honors Eleven With Honorary Degrees

The University will confer honorary degrees on 11 individuals--including two winners of the National Medal of Science, a former fellow of the Harvard Corporation, a top adviser to President John F. Kennedy '40 and a political and social philosopher--at today's Commencement exercises. Eight men and three women will be honored.

John L. Ashbery '49, Ela R. Bhatt, Geoffrey Canada, Jürgen Habermas, Isabella L. Karle, Leon Kirchner, Alice M. Rivlin, Robert E. Rubin '60, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. '38, Richard A. Smith and Charles H. Townes will receive the degrees.

The honorands ate last night at Annenberg Hall to music performed by Yo-Yo Ma '76 and members of the Harvard University Choir. They dined on smoked salmon, veal loin with Madeira sauce and tomato with turnip purée, with an almond tuile basket for dessert.

JOHN L. ASHBERY '49

One of America's leading poets, Ashbery, 93, is known for the distinctive American voice that characterizes his poetry. Harvard will award him an honorary Doctorate of Letters today.

Ashberry is currently a professor of languages and literature at Bard College. He delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard during the 1989-1990 academic year.

Ashbery, the author of 20 books, is a Fulbright Scholar, a two-time Guggenheim Fellow and a MacArthur "genius" fellow. In 1975, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. He is also a winner of the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In January, he was named the New York state poet.

ELA R. BHATT

Bhatt is a labor reform activist and a champion of the interests of impoverished women in India.

She established the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in 1972 in an effort to help working women become self-reliant through services ranging from job training to accounting assistance. SEWA provides low-interest loans through a pioneering microbank to promote entrepreneurship.

She served as a member of Indian Parliament and the Planning Commission to India. She has received numerous awards for her humanitarian service, including the Care Humanitarian Award in 1994.

Bhatt will receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters today.

GEOFFREY CANADA

Canada has devoted his life to improving the lives of disadvantaged children. He will be awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters today for his work.

Canada is currently the president and CEO of the Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families, where he has built a network of more than 40 "beacon schools" in New York--schools that stay open 17 hours a day to provide a safe haven for at-risk youth.

Canada also serves as East Coast regional coordinator of the Black Community Crusade for Children, a program run by the Children's Defense Fund. He has received a Heinz Foundation award, a Hero Award from the Robin Hood Foundation and a Parents Magazine Award for his work in child advocacy. He is the author of Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America and Reaching Up for Manhood.

JÜRGEN HABERMAS

German philosopher and social theorist Habermas is a leading representative of the Frankfurt School of theorists and one of the foremost scholars of the 20th century.

Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Habermas studied philosophy at the Universities of Göttingen and Bonn and then worked briefly as an assistant to philosopher Theodor Adorno at the Institute for Social Research, before a long career in philosophy at the Universities of Heidelberg and Frankfurt.

In his wide-ranging and varied works, Habermas champions reason and justice and advocates "deliberative democracy," a type of political regime whose laws and institutions are a reflection of free and open public discussion.

Habermas is receiving an honorary Doctorate of Laws.

ISABELLA L. KARLE

Karle, a physical chemist who has worked since 1946 in the Naval Research Laboratory, has created new ways for scientists to understand molecular structure. Her technique, known as "symbolic addition procedure," utilizes x-rays to analyze molecular structure--and is useful in understanding chemicals important in both industry and medicine.

Her research won her a National Medal of Science in 1995. She is also widely cited as a sounding board for her husband's research into molecular structure, which won a Nobel Prize in 1985. Today, she will be awarded a Doctorate of Science.

LEON KIRCHNER

Kirchner, an acclaimed composer, pianist, and conductor, has received the recognition of the Pulitzer Committee and the New York Critics Circle for his works.

As Harvard's Rosen professor of music, Kirchner created the graduate program for composition, and founded the Harvard Chamber Players (now known as the Harvard Chamber Orchestra).

A winner of the National Music Award, Kirchner will be receiving a Doctorate of Music today.

ALICE M. RIVLIN

Rivlin has had a long career working in government. Widely cited as breaking the glass ceiling in a trade dominated by men, Rivlin served as founding director of the Congressional Budget Office in 1975--an agency that to this day maintains the structure she created.

She served in the Office of Management and Budget during former President Clinton's first term in the White House, leading the office through the 1995 congressional deadlock and government shutdown. In 1996, she was named vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board, working with Alan Greenspan on managing an economy that permitted a maximum of growth without inflation. Currently, she holds a Senior Fellowship in the Brookings Institute, a Washington-based think tank where future Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers has been spending his past few months. Today, she will be receiving a Doctorate of Laws.

ROBERT E. RUBIN '60

Rubin, today's keynote Commencement speaker, is the former Secretary of the Treasury, and a long time Wall Street insider. He is now chair of Citigroup, Inc.

A mentor for University President-elect Lawrence H. Summers, Rubin served as Treasury Secretary from 1995 to 1999.

Rubin graduated summa cum laude from Harvard college in 1960, and went on to attend Yale Law School.

He was chosen for the Treasury job after serving as the head of former President Bill Clinton's National Economic Council, and working for more than 25 years at Goldman Sachs.

He will receive an honorary Doctorate of Laws today.

ARTHUR M. SCHLESINGER Jr. '38

One of America's leading historians, Schlesinger is also a prominent political figure. After serving as a soldier in World War II, Schlesinger became a presidential special assistant and speechwriter for President John F. Kennedy '40.

After he graduated summa cum laude from Harvard, he became a fellow at Cambridge University. He was a member of Harvard's history faculty from 1946 to 1962, and served on the faculty of the City University of New York for nearly 30 years.

A two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a winner of the National Book Award, Schlesinger has served as president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Society of American Historians.

Schlesinger will receive an honorary Doctorate of Laws.

RICHARD A. SMITH '46

Smith is one of Boston's leading businessmen. Chairman and CEO of Harcourt General, Inc. and the Neiman Marcus Group, Smith has spent much of his life working in the non-profit sector, serving as chair of the board of both the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Facing History and Ourselves Foundation.

Smith is also a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, trustee emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and honorary trustee of Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

He has remained highly active with the University since his days as an undergraduate at the College. A member of the Board of Overseers from 1988 to 1991, Smith served on the Harvard Corporation from 1991 to 2000. He is also director emeritus of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Today Smith is receiving an honorary Doctorate of Laws.

CHARLES H. TOWNES

Townes, a professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley, is a Nobel laureate in physics and a winner of the national Medal of Science, and is most noted for his invention of the laser.

Born in Greenville, S.C. in 1915, Townes spent his professional career at Columbia University, Bell Laboratories and MIT before heading to Berkeley.

He served as provost at MIT, and has been a national science adviser, a key player in the Apollo space program, and a consultant to the telescopic search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

He will receive an honorary Doctorate of Laws today.