Tufts Commencement May 22

Distinguished Educator & Scientist to Receive Honorary Degree; Will Be Joined by Nobel Laureate, CDC Director, Humanitarians, Entrepreneur, Writer

Sen. Kerry to Address Fletcher School Students

Charles M. Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering and president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will deliver Tufts University’s commencement address on Sunday, May 22, 2011.

Dr. Vest has made many contributions to science, engineering and education in his more than 40-year career and has sought to strengthen national policy in these areas. Prior to becoming NAE president in 2007, Dr. Vest served as the 15th president of MIT, stepping down in 2004 after 14 years.

During his MIT tenure, his team included an impressive number of men and women who would themselves go on to lead other noted universities, including Lawrence S. Bacow (Tufts), Robert J. Birgeneau (University of Toronto and University of California at Berkeley), Robert A. Brown (Boston University), Alice P. Gast (Lehigh University), and Mark S. Wrighton (Washington University).

“Chuck Vest has had a unique impact on higher education,” said Tufts President Lawrence S. Bacow. “A superb advocate for innovation, he has argued persuasively for the economic and social importance of research universities to the future of the nation. He has pushed to expand access to college in this country and, through the OpenCourseWare movement, to university-generated knowledge around the world. And for a generation of American educators Chuck has been an example of how to stay focused on doing the right thing, even when it is not easy.”

Dr. Vest chaired the President’s Advisory Committee on the Redesign of the Space Station and served as a member of the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, the Massachusetts Governor’s Council on Economic Growth and Technology and the National Research Council Board on Engineering Education. He chaired the U.S. Department of Energy Task Force on the Future of Science Programs and was vice chair of the Council on Competitiveness and chair of the Association of American Universities.

In February 2004, he was asked by President Bush to serve as a member of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from 14 universities, and in 2006 President Bush awarded Dr. Vest the National Medal of Technology.

After earning an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at West Virginia University, he received an M.S.E. and a Ph.D. in the same field from the University of Michigan, where he began his academic career in 1968. He was named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Michigan in 1989 before moving to MIT the following year.

His work includes two books on higher education: Pursuing the Endless Frontier: Essays on MIT and the Role of Research Universities (2004) and The American Research University from World War II to World Wide Web (2007).

At commencement, to be held at 9 a.m. on The Green on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus, Dr. Vest will receive an honorary doctorate of science. Six other distinguished men and women will also receive honorary doctorates:

Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, a nationally recognized community-based non-profit organization that has dramatically increased high school and college graduation rates among students in Harlem, helping urban children escape the violence and poverty that he himself experienced growing up in the South Bronx; honorary doctorate of humane letters;

Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, who spearheaded efforts to reduce tuberculosis infection rates in India by 80 percent and whose public health initiatives in New York City included a smoking ban in public workplaces and the elimination of trans fats from restaurants; honorary doctorate of public service;

Jamaica Kincaid, award-winning writer, whose works of fiction and non-fiction frequently focus on the tensions between mothers and daughters and between mother and daughter colonies such as England and her native Antigua; professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College; honorary doctorate of humane letters;

Pamela Omidyar, Tufts alumna and social justice advocate; founder of Humanity United, which seeks to build lasting peace and advance human freedom, and HopeLab, which harnesses the power of technology to improve the health of young people; member of the Advisory Council to The Elders, an independent group of global leaders who support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity; honorary doctorate of public service;

Pierre Omidyar, Tufts alumnus and trustee emeritus; philanthropist, entrepreneur and founder and chairman of eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace with $63 billion in transactions in 2010, providing a significant source of income for hundreds of thousands of people; donor with his wife, Pam, of $100 million to Tufts to create the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund; founding partner and chairman of Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm created with Pam, which creates opportunities for people to improve their lives; honorary doctorate of public service;

Robert Solow, Nobel laureate in economics for his research into the critical role that technological advances play in economic growth; Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT; advisor to President John F. Kennedy and recipient of the National Medal of Science; honorary doctorate of science.

In addition, on Saturday, May 21, John Kerry, the senior senator from Massachusetts and chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will address graduates of The Fletcher School during their annual Class Day ceremonies.

– Information from Tufts University