Seven honorary degrees were awarded to prominent figures in global health reform, an award-winning novelist and a world-renowned photo journalist along with the members of the Class of 2010 who received their degrees at this year’s Commencement ceremony.
Jodi Picoult, a top-selling novelist with best-sellers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, received an honorary Doctor of Letters on Sunday.
Picoult, a Hanover resident, has written 17 novels, four of which debuted at number one on The New York Times best-seller list. She received the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction in 2003 and an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association in 2005.
“I thought it might have been a mistake,” Picoult said of her selection for an honorary degree. “I write commercial fiction, and usually these honorary degrees are given to the great literary elite.”
Regina Benjamin, who received a Doctor of Science degree, is the 18th Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service. Benjamin was the first black woman and first physician under the age of 40 to be elected into the American Medical Association’s Board of Trustees in 1995.
Benjamin is the founder and former CEO of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Alabama. The clinic services a small fishing village, and continued to provide care even during Hurricane Georges in 1998 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In 1998, she was awarded the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights.
“I always tell people to make a difference and follow your passion,” she said. “I always sleep better at night knowing that I’ve done something for someone else, even if it’s something tiny.”
At the ceremony, a Doctor of Science degree went to Agnes Binagwaho, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health of Rwanda. Binagwaho specializes in the treatment of HIV/AIDS in children and adults, as well as emergency pediatrics and neonatology.
Binagwaho is currently the secretary of Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission, an organization that oversees the planning, monitoring and evaluation of efforts to curb the spread of the infection. She also helped coordinate the United Nations Task Force of the Millennium Development Goal Project for HIV/AIDS and Access to Essential Medicines, which was commissioned in 2002.
Arthur Irving, chairman of Irving Oil Company and other energy firms headquartered in New Brunswick, Canada, received a Doctor of Humane Letters. Irving became president of Irving Oil — a family–owned and privately-held company founded by his father — in 1972 and was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2008.
Irving Oil was the first oil company to win a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Excellence Award for producing low-sulfur gasoline three years ahead of regulation and contributing to improved air quality and vehicle performance.
Irving is the parent of Sarah Irving ’10 and contributes to College scholarship funds and course development in the business field. He is also an adopted member of Dartmouth’s Class of 1972.
“I think you’ve got something going on [at Dartmouth] that’s really special,” he said. “You can feel it walking around here. Dartmouth is really an inspiration for a lot of other institutions.”
Barry MacLean ’60 Th’61, who served on the College Board of Trustees from 1991 to 2001, received a Doctor of Humane Letters. In 1961, MacLean became president and CEO of MacLean-Fogg Company, a global provider of automotive, utility and telecommunications products. He also served as chairman of the Thayer School of Engineering subdivision of the “Will to Excel” fundraising campaign during the 1990s.
“There have so many changes, but change is positive,” MacLean said in an interview. “I’m an engineer, and I think there will be 90 to 100 graduating this year. There were only 20 when I was here. I think it shows that more people want to be problem solvers, which is terrific.”
Honoring his expertise in photojournalism, James Nachtwey ’70 — whose photographs are featured in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Library of France and the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts — received a Doctorate of Arts.
Nachtwey taught himself photography while working in the Merchant Marine ships and has produced extensive photographic essays in countries around the world ranging from Nicaragua to Russia to Afghanistan.
Stephen Lewis, co-director and founder of AIDS-Free World, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and is this year’s Commencement speaker. AIDS-Free World is an international advocacy organization that aims to provide efficient global responses to the combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Lewis was also the former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations and former UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa.