Longtime Board Members Albert Gamper Jr., Joan Bildner to Receive Honorary Degrees at Rutgers' 241st Commencement
April 13, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EDITORS NOTE: ATTENTION EDUCATION, ASSIGNMENT EDITORS
LONGTIME BOARD MEMBERS ALBERT GAMPER JR., JOAN BILDNER
TO RECEIVE HONARARY DEGREES AT RUTGERS 241st COMMENCEMENT
Graduation speaker Tavis Smiley and five others to be honored
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New Brunswick, N.J. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, will confer honorary doctorates of humane letters at this years commencement upon Albert R. Gamper Jr., outgoing chairman of the Rutgers Board of Governors and a 1966 graduate of University College, Rutgers-Newark, and Joan Lebson Bildner, who served for 12 years on Rutgers boards of governors and trustees and is now a Rutgers trustee emerita and a member of the Board of Overseers of the Rutgers University Foundation.
Tavis Smiley, a prominent radio and television talk-show host, political commentator and author, also will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters and serve as the keynote speaker at the universitys 241st commencement in New Brunswick on May 16, as will Gordon H. Sato, a research biologist and member of the National Academy of Sciences. Sato is being recognized for working to help impoverished coastal communities of the drought-stricken African nation of Eritrea to develop a low-technology, sustainable agricultural economy through his Manzanar Project.
Eugenie C. Scott, a physical anthropologist and internationally recognized advocate of scientific literacy, will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree. Scott is founding director of the National Center for Science Education, which defends the teaching of evolution in public school science classes.
The universitys Board of Governors also agreed today to award honorary Doctor of Laws degrees to Donald T. DiFrancesco, former governor of New Jersey, longtime member of the New Jersey State Senate and strong advocate for higher education; and to Shirin Ebadi, lawyer and human rights activist, who was the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Ebadi received the award in 2003 for her pioneering efforts in democracy and human rights, particularly on behalf of women and children.
The Rev. Edwin D. Leahy, O.S.B., headmaster of St. Benedicts Preparatory School in Newark, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the joint Newark College of Arts and Sciences-University College convocation at Rutgers-Newark Thursday, May 17. Father Edwin helped to reinvigorate the struggling school during the 1970s, turning it into a flourishing institution that prepares young men from the Newark area for higher education and productive careers.
Gamper, a member of the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni, will complete his third and final year as chairman of the Board of Governors in June. He also has served on the universitys Board of Trustees and on the Board of Overseers of the Rutgers University Foundation. As chairman and chief executive officer of CIT Group Inc., he helped that company grow into one of the nations largest commercial and consumer financing companies. He and his wife, Janice, have given generous financial support to Rutgers, including a gift, matched by CIT, to endow a chair at the Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick. He has received the Rutgers Alumni Federations Award for Meritorious Service.
Bildner has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to developing programs that further justice, equality and diversity. She and her husband, Allen, founded the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life, and their foundation has supported more than 20 different initiatives at Rutgers. In June 2006, she was elected a Rutgers trustee emerita in recognition of her distinguished service.
See also: Tavis Smiley to speak at Commencement
Contact: Steve Manas
732-932-7084, Ext. 612
E-mail: smanas@ur.rutgers.edu
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