Graduate School seeks nominations for honorary degrees

T. Daniel Griffiths, acting vice provost for research and dean of the Graduate School, has issued a call for nominations of persons to receive honorary doctoral degrees from NIU.

Awarding an honorary degree is an opportunity for the university to recognize someone especially outstanding in a field of interest to the university. It is necessary, though not sufficient, for a nominee to be accomplished and renowned in his or her field; an honorary-degree recipient should be clearly exceptional among other outstanding persons in that field. While a connection to NIU or to the State of Illinois is not a requirement for nomination, any such relationship should be noted and will be considered during the selection process.

A nomination must be accompanied by:

• A supporting narrative that clearly indicates the nominee's distinction, as mentioned above, in business, education, the liberal arts and sciences, technology, the fine arts, other professional fields or public service.
• One or more standard biographical statements from appropriate reference sources (these are not substitutes for the narrative indicated above).
• Current mailing address of the nominee also should be included.

Any person affiliated with NIU may submit a nomination, indicating the nominator's identity and connection with the university. The Honorary Degree Committee encourages nominations by groups as well as by individuals. Nominators should alert all university departments and divisions related to the area of the nominee's accomplishments and invite those units to provide the committee with input regarding the merits of the nomination.

As the university does not intend to award more than two honorary degrees in a year, the selection process is stringent. And, as the committee's recommendations subsequently pass through several other approval steps, the process is lengthy.

This year's nominations, with the required supporting information, should reach Griffiths by Friday, Jan. 17.

Recipients of some recent honorary degrees from NIU include J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; distinguished historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr.; former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon; Carl Sagan, astronomer and promoter of scientific literacy, and Gwendolyn Brooks, poet laureate of Illinois.

For more information, call 753-1883.

11/18/2002