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UNC-Chapel Hill to award honorary degrees to five at May 8 Commencement
(Chapel Hill, N.C.— March 4, 2016) – Five celebrated individuals will receive honorary degrees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Spring Commencement on May 8.
Among the honorees is critically acclaimed author and trailblazing public leader Anne-Marie Slaughter, who will also deliver Carolina’s Spring Commencement address. A foreign policy expert and public commentator, Slaughter’s groundbreaking article for The Atlantic, “Why Women Can’t Have it All,” sparked a renewed national debate about the continued obstacles to genuine male-female equality.
Chancellor Carol L. Folt will preside over the Commencement ceremony, which will take place in Kenan Stadium at 9 a.m.
This year’s honorary degree recipients are:
Sandra Cisneros, Doctor of Letters, award-winning writer of celebrated works including “The House on Mango Street” and 1995 MacArthur Foundation Fellow.
Paul Fulton, Doctor of Laws, former president and CEO of Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc and the Sara Lee Corporation as well as former Dean of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Nell Irvin Painter, Doctor of Humane Letters, author of multiple books including “The History of White People, Creating Black Americans: African American History and Its Meaning 1619 to the Present,” member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and former Guggenheim Fellow.
Sister Helen Prejean, Doctor of Divinity, spiritual adviser instrumental to the national dialogue on the death penalty and acclaimed author of “Dead Man Walking,” which inspired the 1996 film.
Anne-Marie Slaughter, Doctor of Humane Letters, President and CEO of non-partisan think tank New America and the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University.
For full bios of all honorary degree recipients visit: http://commencement.unc.edu/spring/index.php
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Commencement Website: http://commencement.unc.edu/
Photos of Honorary Degree Recipients:
About the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s first public university, is a global higher education leader known for innovative teaching, research and public service. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, Carolina regularly ranks as the best value for academic quality in U.S. public higher education. Now in its third century, the University offers 77 bachelor’s, 113 master’s, 68 doctorate and seven professional degree programs through 14 schools and the College of Arts and Sciences. Every day, faculty – including two Nobel laureates – staff and students shape their teaching, research and public service to meet North Carolina’s most pressing needs in every region and all 100 counties. Carolina’s more than 308,000 alumni live in all 50 states and 150 countries. More than 167,000 live in North Carolina.
Communications and Public Affairs contact: MC VanGraafeiland, (919) 962-7090, mc.vangraafeiland@unc.edu