The University will confer honorary degrees today on 10 people, including Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel, Who will deliver the Commencement address, architect I.M. Pei, Painter Jacob Lawrence and former University Chicago President Hanna H. Gray.
Among the honorary winners are two graduates of the College--economist James Tobin '39 and business historian Alfred D. Chandler Jr. '40.
Other recipients are author Doris M. Lessing, engineering professor Mildred Dresselhaus, former Overseer John C. Whitehead and historian The number of honorary degree recipients rosethis year, from nine last-year. Helene Ahrweiler One of the world's leading Byzantinehistorians, Helene Ahrweiler has taught at theSorbonne since 1967. Born in Athens in 1926,Ahrweiler graduated from the University of Athensand received her doctorate in history from theEcole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. Ahrweiler worked as a researcher for the CentreNational de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) from1955 to 1967. Appointed professor of history at the Sorbonnein 1967, Ahrweiler served as chair of its historydepartment from 1969 to 1970. She served as president of the University ofParis I from 1976 to 1981. She was chancellor ofthe Universities of Paris in 1982. Ahrweiler waspresident of the Georges Pompidou National Centerof Art and Culture from 1989 to 1991. Alfred D. Chandler Jr. '40 Straus Professor of Business History emeritusAlfred Dupont Chandler Jr. '40 was born inGuyencourt, Del. in 1918. Chandler attended the college, and received hismaster's degree from Harvard in 1947 and a Ph.D.in 1952, He was a research fellow at Harvard in1955. Chandler was named a professor of history atJohns Hopkins University in 1963. He served aschair of the history department there from 1966 to1970. Chandler was appointed to an endowed chair atHarvard Business School in 1971. He has been aprofessor emeritus since 1989. He received the Bancroft and Pulitzer prizes in1978 for The Visible Hand. Mildred S. Dresselhaus Read more in News
