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Honorary Degree Recipients
Drexel celebrated Commencement 2005 with four ceremonies honoring graduates of our eight colleges and schools on the University City Main Campus.
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Dr. Joseph Stiglitz
Founder of one of the leading economics journals, The Journal of Economic Perspectives
Dr. Joseph Stiglitz helped
create “The Economics of
Information,” and his work
has transformed the way
economists think about the
working of markets. He has
made vital contributions to
every subfield of economic
theory—microeconomics,
macroeconomics, industrial
organization, international
economics, labor economics,
financial economics and
development economics. Dr.
Stiglitz has published more than 300 papers as well as a dozen
books in his 35-year career and is the founder of one of the leading
economics journals, The Journal of Economic Perspectives.
In 2001, Dr. Stiglitz won the Nobel Prize in economics, with
George Akerlof of the University of California, Berkeley and A.
Michael Spence of Stanford University, for “their analyses of markets
with asymmetric information,” according to the Nobel
Academy. As founders of modern development economics, Dr.
Stiglitz and his coauthors have time and again substantiated that
economic models may be quite misleading if they isregard informational
asymmetries. Several of his essays have become important
stepping-stones for further research.
After doing graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Dr. Stiglitz received a Fulbright fellowship to
Cambridge for 1965-1966. He joined the faculty at Yale University
and was named a tenured professor at the age of 27, and he has
been a faculty member at Princeton, Oxford and Stanford. At 29,
he became a fellow of the Econometric Society, and he is a member
of the National Academy of Science. Dr. Stiglitz received the
prestigious John Bates Clark Medal, awarded every two years to
the American economist under the age of 40 who has made the
most significant contributions to the subject.
Dr. Stiglitz was a member and later chairman of President
Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. He also served as chief
economist of the World Bank. Currently, he is University
Professor at the Columbia University Business School, Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences and School of International and
Public Affairs.
In recognition of his extensive contributions to the world of
economics and education, Drexel University is proud to confer
upon Joseph Stiglitz the degree of Doctor of Business
Administration, honoris causa. |
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John Roberts '67
Director for Vonage
John J. Roberts served for
more than a decade as a
Drexel University trustee.
Before stepping down from the
Board in 2004, he helped guide
the University through a period
of remarkable growth and
progress. He retired in 2002
after a 35-year career with
Coopers & Lybrand and later
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Mr. Roberts rose from audit
manager to general managing
partner of PwC, ultimately
overseeing the company’s $7 billion global consulting division
specializing in management consulting, human resource consulting
and business process outsourcing. He was a member of PwC’s
Leadership Team, the most senior management group, with
responsibility for strategy and operations of the $21 billion revenue,
150,000-employee firm.
A loyal Drexel alumnus, Mr. Roberts graduated from the
University in 1967 and went to work in Coopers & Lybrand’s
Philadelphia,Washington and London offices. He became
responsible for the firm’s transportation industry practice in 1974
and was made managing partner of the Philadelphia office in
1983. He relocated to Los Angeles after being named vice chairman
and West Region managing partner in 1988. By 1994 he was
chief operating officer, and he also served as a member of the
Board of Partners and Management Committee. Coopers &
Lybrand merged with PwC in 1998.
Mr. Roberts is a member of the American Institute of CPAs
and serves on the boards of Armstrong Holdings, the
Pennsylvania Real Estate Trust, Safeguard Scientifics and Vonage
Holdings. At various times in his career he also held board memberships
at the Philadelphia First Corporation, the Greater
Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, the Urban Affairs
Partnership and the University City Science Center and served on
the advisory boards of the Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern University and the University of Southern
California School of Accounting.
For his long service to Drexel and his remarkable professional
accomplishments, Drexel University confers with pride upon
John J. Roberts the degree of Doctor of Business Administration,
honoris causa. |
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Dr. Alan G. MacDiarmid
Recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry
A discoverer of the field of
conducting polymers, or
“synthetic metals,”Alan G.
MacDiarmid was the chemist
responsible in 1977 for the
chemical and electrochemical
doping of polyacetylene, the “prototype” conducting polymer,
and the “rediscovery” of
polyaniline, the foremost
industrial conducting polymer.
He lives by the motto on
a sign in his study: “I am a
very lucky person and the
harder I work the luckier I seem to be.”
In 2000 Dr.MacDiarmid shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
with Alan Heeger and Hideki Shirakawa for the discovery of
metallic conductivity in organic polymers. He helped establish the
Jilin MacDiarmid Institute of organic nanomaterials at Jilin
University, Changchun, China, and the new MacDiarmid Institute
of Materials Science and Nanotechnology at Victoria University of
Wellington, New Zealand. Dr.MacDiarmid holds the Blanchard
Chair in Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania and the
James Von Ehr Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology at
the University of Texas at Dallas, where he is professor of chemistry
and physics. He is a professor of chemistry at Jilin University.
He earned his master’s degree from the University of New Zealand
and doctoral degrees from the University ofWisconsin and
Cambridge University. He joined the Department of Chemistry at
the University of Pennsylvania in 1955.
Dr. MacDiarmid has written more than 600 research papers
and holds approximately 25 patents. In 2001, Victoria University
created the Alan MacDiarmid Chair in Physical Chemistry. In
2000, the Royal Society of New Zealand awarded him its top
honor, the Rutherford Medal. In 2002, he became a Member of
the Order of New Zealand, the nation’s highest honor.
Dr. MacDiarmid gives credit for his success to his colleagues
and students, saying, “You can be the most brilliant scientist in all
the world; put you on a desert island with the very best scientific
equipment and the very best library and you’ll do uninteresting
research. You must have interaction. You must have discussion.”
For shaping the future through chemistry and teaching young
minds, Drexel University is proud to confer upon Alan G.
MacDiarmid the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa. |
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John A. Nyheim
Investment counsel for Nyheim & Associates
John A. Nyheim is among
the longest-serving members
of the Drexel University
Board of Trustees. He has
been a University trustee continuously
since his 1989
appointment, and for more
than 15 years he has worked
tirelessly on the University’s
behalf. He has made a special
impact as chair of the Board’s
Investment Committee.
During his decade-long
tenure as investment chair,
Drexel’s endowment has grown by more than 350 percent, to
$424 million.
In 1999 he established the Nyheim Endowed Chair of
Engineering at Drexel, currently held by Dr. Alexander Fridman
in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics.
Mr. Nyheim’s chair support has enabled the College of
Engineering to establish the Drexel Plasma Institute, which coordinates
research projects related to plasma and other high-energy
engineering technologies. The Drexel Plasma Institute has
received several million dollars in research grants from government
agencies including the Department of Energy and NASA.
Mr. Nyheim also serves on several Philadelphia boards,
including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Curtis Institute of
Music and the Academy of Vocal Arts, where the John A.
Nyheim Fellowship is named in his honor. He is a member of the
board of the Society of Four Arts in Palm Beach, Fla.
Born in Oakland, Calif., Mr. Nyheim graduated from the
University of California, Berkeley in 1958 with an undergraduate
degree in economics. He received his master of arts degree in economics
from Yale in 1960 and embarked on a career as a highly
successful investment management professional with Wellington
Management and now with his own firm, Nyheim & Associates.
He and his wife Chris have two sons, Thomas and Peter, and
four grandchildren. The Nyheims maintain residences in
Villanova, Pa., Palm Beach, Fla. (where they have hosted a number
of Drexel alumni events) and Jackson Hole,Wyo. Among
their many interests are hiking, horseback riding and world travel.
Recognizing his many years of concerned stewardship of
Drexel University, the University proudly confers upon John A.
Nyheim the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. |
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Manuel Stamatakis
PHEC chairman
Manuel N. Stamatakis is a
leading citizen of
Greater Philadelphia and one
of Drexel University’s most
dedicated stewards. He is
president and chief executive
officer of Capital Management
Enterprises, a financial services
and employee benefit
consulting company in Valley
Forge, Pa.He also serves as
chairman of the Greater
Philadelphia Tourism and
Marketing Corporation, the
Philadelphia Shipyard Development Corporation and the World
Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia.
Mr. Stamatakis was a lead negotiator in crafting the agreement
that allowed Drexel to make the nation’s largest private medical
school the Drexel University College of Medicine, saving more
than 13,000 jobs for Greater Philadelphia. As chairman of the
College, he has worked to preserve its outstanding academic tradition
and rebuild its fiscal strength. He has also served on the
Board of Trustees of the University since 1996.
Mr. Stamatakis has led joint public and private efforts to
strengthen the local economy and improve Pennsylvania’s role in
world trade. At the request of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge,
Mr. Stamatakis chaired the Pennsylvania Improve Management
Performance and Cost Control Task Force Commission, which
identified potential savings for the Commonwealth of $7.6
billion over five years.
Governor Ridge also appointed Mr. Stamatakis to the
Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) and the PATCO Transit
Authority. In 1998, the Governor appointed him chairman of
the Team Pennsylvania Ambassador Program, a network of
business, cultural and academic leaders working to expand
domestic and international business in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Stamatakis received a bachelor of science degree in industrial
engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He serves on numerous
boards and committees for Pennsylvania organizations, including
the World Affairs Council, the Health Care Resources
Foundation, The Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation and
Philadelphia Orchestra Association. His charitable activities include
the Boy Scouts of America, the American Cancer Society, the
American Jewish Committee and the United Negro College Fund.
In honor of his contributions to Drexel University and his extensive
public service, Drexel University is proud to confer upon Manuel N.
Stamatakis the degree of Doctor of Business Administration, honoris causa. |
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James Lipton
Archivist for the Craft of Acting
James Lipton, host of
Bravo’s Inside the Actors
Studio, has interviewed more
than 80 of contemporary film
and theater’s most noteworthy
contributors. He has created
what he calls “a unique
archive” of in-depth looks at
the craft of acting.
An ccomplished director,
choreographer, producer,
writer of stage and screen and
author, Mr. Lipton has
brought more than 25 variety
specials, movies and performing arts programs to network and
cable television. He has also written screenplays for a number of
television movies including Mirrors, which was produced by Mr.
Lipton and based on his novel. He is president of Jim Lipton
Productions. He also authored the best-selling book An
Exaltation of Larks, in print since 1968.
Mr. Lipton’s Broadway shows as a playwright and lyricist
include Nowhere to Go but Up, directed by Sidney Lumet. He
directed The New York Shakespeare Festival’s A Night of
Shakespeare’s Women, directed and choreographed The Doctor In
Spite of Himself and choreographed Charlot, a ballet based on
Charlie Chaplin’s characters. He produced The Mighty Gents,
Monteith and Rand and Ain’t Misbehavin’, which won the 1978
Tony Award for Best Musical.
He is a life member and vice president of the Actors Studio,
serves on its board of directors and executive committee and has
been a moderator of its Playwrights and Directors Unit. He helped
create the Actors Studio Drama School at New School University,
of which he served as dean for 10 years and is now dean emeritus.
Mr. Lipton is a member of the Authors’ League, the Dramatists’
Guild, ASCAP, AFTRA and SAG, and is a lifetime member of the
Writers’Guild of America. He has been a national trustee of the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and a governor
of the academy’s New York chapter.He is a licensed pilot and has
competed in horse shows, showing hunters and jumpers. In 1995
he represented the United States Equestrian team in Grand Prix
jumping at the Challenge of Champions.
In recognition of his many accomplishments and talents,
Drexel University takes pride in conferring upon James Lipton
the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. |
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