June 23, 2005

Eight receive honorary degrees

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Francis S. Collins
Doctor of Science


As director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, physician-geneticist Francis S. Collins has overseen the Human Genome Project, the international effort to map and sequence the entire human DNA. Collins has immediately made the project’s data available without restriction to the worldwide scientific community, thereby greatly accelerating genetic research. After completing a PhD in physical chemistry at Yale University, Collins earned an MD from the University of North Carolina and was awarded a fellowship in human genetics at Yale before joining the University of Michigan faculty in 1984. He quickly gained renown as a pioneering gene hunter, developing the technique of “positional cloning” to identify the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, and numerous other disorders.

Cathy N. Davidson
Doctor of Humane Letters


Vice provost for interdisciplinary studies and Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English at Duke University, Cathy N. Davidson has distinguished herself both as a scholar and as a leader in promoting interdisciplinary exchange in academia. After graduating from Elmhurst College, Davidson earned her MA and PhD in English from the State University of New York at Binghamton and pursued postdoctoral study at the University of Chicago. She is the author or editor of 18 books, including Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory, winner of the 1998 Mayflower Cup Award for Nonfiction. At Duke she cofounded and directed the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute.

Troy Duster
Doctor of Science


A widely influential sociologist who earned both bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from North-western, Troy Duster is a professor of sociology at New York University and Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Among his numerous publications — exploring sociology in relation to such subjects as law, science, deviance, inequality, race, and education — are the books The Legislation of Morality: Drugs, Crime, and Law (1970) and Backdoor to Eugenics (1990), both considered landmarks in their fields. Most recently he coauthored Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Colorblind Society (2003), which won the Benjamin Hooks Award. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Ford Foun-dation Senior Research Award.

Thomas L. Friedman
Doctor of Humane Letters


A three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Thomas L. Friedman has covered the Middle East, the White House, and the world at large in a journalism career spanning nearly three decades. After graduating from Brandeis University and earning a master’s as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford, Friedman served as a United Press International correspondent in London and Beruit. In 1981 he joined the New York Times, where he has held positions as Beruit bureau chief, Israel bureau chief, chief diplomatic correspondent, chief White House correspondent, and international economics correspondent; since 1995 he has served as the Times foreign affairs columnist. From Beruit to Jerusalem, which he wrote on a Guggenheim Fellowship, won the 1989 National Book Award.

John S. McCain III
Doctor of Laws
Republican senator John S. McCain of Arizona has earned the widespread respect of both parties for his independence and integrity. As a naval aviator after his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy, McCain was shot down in Vietnam and spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi. He retired from the military in 1981 with the rank of captain, having earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and Distinguished Flying Cross. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and to the U.S. Senate four years later, he gained prominence as an advocate for campaign finance reform; his 2000 presidential candidacy further enhanced his national stature. McCain currently chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in addition to serving on the Armed Services and Indian Affairs Committees.

Emile Francis Short
Doctor of Laws


A leader in Africa’s struggle for human rights, Emile Francis Short has headed Ghana’s Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) since its establishment in 1993. After receiving his law degree with honors from the University of London and a master’s in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Short headed a legal firm in Ghana from 1974 to 1993, in addition to teaching law at Ghana’s University of Cape Coast. Under his leadership CHRAJ has battled government corruption, mediated disputes between citizens and the government, and promoted human rights, including gender equality, freedom of expression, and prisoners’ rights. Short’s successes in Ghana have brought him increasing international attention; he has served as president of the African Ombudsman Center and a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Nancy L. Stokey
Doctor of Science


Frederick Henry Prince Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, Nancy Stokey is considered one of the most remarkable economists of her generation. After earning a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD from Harvard University, she taught at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management for 12 years, chairing the Department of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences for two years and eventually holding the Harold L. Stuart Professorship of Managerial Economics. Stokey has done outstanding work both in theoretical microeconomics and macroeconomics. Coeditor of the Journal of Political Economy and a past coeditor of Econometrica, she coauthored Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics (1989), a standard text in the field.

James N. Wood
Doctor of Fine Arts


As director and president of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1979 to 2004, James N. Wood achieved renown as one of the world’s most highly respected museum directors. A graduate of Williams College and the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, he began his career under Metropolitan Museum of Art director Thomas Hoving before serving as curator of Buffalo’s Albright-Knox Gallery and then for five years as director of the St. Louis Art Museum. During his tenure at the Art Institute, he expanded the facilities, oversaw more than 40 renovation projects, attracted major donations, vastly increased the endowment, enhanced and broadened the museum’s collections and initiated international collaborations with other top museums, among other achievements.

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