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Every year at least ten people, including the five
speakers, receive honorary degrees at MSU’s commencement ceremonies.
“Awarding honorary degrees gives us the opportunity to bring distinguished
people to campus and introduce them to MSU if they aren’t already familiar
with us,” says VP Gray, who chairs the faculty Honorary Degree
Committee. “And we can learn from them, too,” he adds
“Jim West, the inventor who received the honorary Doctor
of Engineering at the advanced degree ceremony in December, told us he
really wanted to meet with minority students while he was here,” Gray
recalls. Deborah Wince-Smith, who spoke at that ceremony, is president of
the Council of Competitiveness, which links business and university leaders
to advance economic development. “She was very interested to learn about
work at the cyclotron laboratory and the SOAR telescope,” Gray says.
Nominations for honorary degree recipients must come
from faculty and are reviewed by the Honorary Degree Committee. President
Lou Anna Simon invites all the honorary degree recipients and may select
speakers from outside the pool approved by the committee. “She has said she
would like to select speakers from the committee’s pool of candidates,” Gray
says. “So the committee needs more nominations, especially of top scholars.”
Alison Barber, executive assistant to the
president, directs the invitation process for President Simon. “I often have
to invite a candidate for three or four commencements before he or she is
available to accept the invitation,” she says. Efforts to balance
disciplines and other factors at each semester’s ceremonies also may affect
timing of invitations. “I’d like to have four to six superb candidates for
every one of those ten honorary degree recipient positions, including
speakers, each year,” she says.
That means a lot more nominations than the ten or so
the committee typically gets each year. “When I ask individual faculty who
they’d like to see receive honorary degrees from MSU, they can name several
top people without hesitation,” Gray says.
He encourages faculty to submit formal nominations for
those people. “The nomination process isn’t difficult,” he adds. A
nomination package consists of
- A one-page form, available from
the
OVPRGS Web
- A nomination statement explaining
why the nominee should be considered for an honorary degree from MSU. The
statement should include details about the nominee’s accomplishments and
identify the benefits to both MSU and the nominee of awarding the honorary
degree.
- At least two supporting letters,
which may be from MSU faculty or from others familiar with the nominee’s
qualifications. Supporting letters from individuals outside MSU are
encouraged.
- A vita or other biographical
information about the nominee
Additional information that will help the committee
evaluate the candidate can be appended.
“I’m willing to figure out how to get these
distinguished people to campus,” Barber says. “Nominators should think
broadly and come up with the best people.” Nominees do not need to have a
connection with MSU but should exemplify the values inherent in MSU’s
mission and articulated in documents like the Boldness by Design
initiatives. Travel arrangements and other logistics are handled by the
Commencement Office, but colleges, departments, and individual faculty can
arrange events on campus.
“We want to see more faculty, department chairs, and
deans involved in nominating honorary degree recipients,” Gray says.
“Perhaps deans’ faculty advisory committees can take on responsibility for
submitting three or four nominations each year.”
The Honorary Degree Committee typically meets near the
beginning of fall and spring semesters. For nomination deadlines, e-mail
vprgs@msu.edu or call 355-0306.
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