Two honorary Doctor of Letters degrees were awarded this morning. Saul Bellow, the author of Mister Sammler's Planet. Herzog, Henderson the Rain King and The Adventures of Augie March, among others, is generally regarded as one of American's finest writers. Age 57, he was born in Lachine, Quebec, in 1915, and received a B.S. from Northeastern University in 1937.
Bellow has taught English and creative writing at Pestalozzi-Froebel Teachers College in Chicago, where he now resides, the University of Minnesota, Yale University, Bard College and Princeton. He was a Fellow of Branford College at Yale.
The citation for Bellow read: "A great American writer who depicts with sympathy the human comedy and brings us uncomfortably to face with ourselves--yet always on the side of life."
The other Doctor of Letters degree went to Northrup Frye, a professor of English at the University of Toronto who, in addition to being one of Canada's foremost educators is a critic and author.
Frye, formerly the principal of Victoria College, is the author of Fear Symmetry, Anatomy of Criticism. The Return of Eden, and A Study of English Romanticism. He holds a B.A. degree from the University of Toronto and a M.A. from Oxford University. He was ordained to the ministry of the United Church of Canada in 1936.
Frye's citation read: "A brilliant literary theorist whose original and critical mind has ever been devoted to the concerns of education."
The only Doctor of Arts degree awarded today was presented to Elma Lewis, the black community leader and the founder-director of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, which serves 325,000 people annually in 20 programs connected with the arts.
Lewis is also the founder-director of the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in Roxbury, the teaching division of the NCAAA. Born in 1922, she received a BLI degree from Emerson in 1943 and a M.Ed. from Boston University a year later. She holds honorary degrees from four colleges--Colby, Boston College, Anna Marie College, and Emerson. She is a fellow of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters.
The citation for Lewis read: "She is a powerful voice of Afro-America. Her artistry and energy have brought fresh impetus to an ancient strain within our total culture."
One of the three Doctor of Laws presented went to Roy Harris Jenkins, the highly principled former Deputy Leader of the British Labor Party. He resigned only a few months ago in a dispute with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson over the Common Market. In England, Jenkins is known as an almost too-highly-civilized intellectual.
Jenkins has held many posts in the British government: a member of Parliament from 1948 to 1950; Minister of Aviation from 1964-1965; Home Secretary from 1965 to 1967; and, Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1967 to 1970. The author of several major political studies--among them, Mr. Atlee, An Interim Biography. H. H. Asquith, and Pursuit of Progress--he is a vigorous advocate of the Common Market.
Jenkins's citation was: "Scholar and leader of politics and politicians: forthright, high-principled partisan; constant friend of unity in Europe and peace in the world."
Paul Anthony Samuelson, the Nobel Prize winning MIT economist, received the third Doctor of Laws. A member of the Rand Corporation and a consultant to the Federal Reserve Board, he was a consultant to the National Resources Planning Board during World War II and a member of the War Production Board in 1945. Age 57, he holds an A.B. from Chicago University and a Ph.D. from Harvard.
His citation: "From the economic galaxy of Cambridge his star has illuminated the path-ways of myriad students, inspired generations of economists, and provided direction for presidents."
The final degree, the only Doctor of Science, was awarded to James Augustus Shannon, the educator and medical investigator who helped shape governmental policy toward medical research after World War II. Director of the National Institutes of Health from 1955 to 1968, he was associate director of the National Heart Institute from 1949 to 1952. In 1949, he received the Presidential Medal for Merit from President Truman.
Shannon, born in Hollis, N.Y., holds an A.B. from Holy Cross and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from NYU. He was cited by President Bok: "Under his guiding hand, the arm of government has bent wisely and usefully to the service of medical science."