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Feature: July 2, 1997
(Honorary Degrees) Valedictorian Daniel Jerome Katz, who graduated with a degree in chemistry, cited a Russian saying, "Suffering purifies," and how that maxim applied to his classmates' experiences at Princeton: "Those willing to suffer, to really give of themselves, can achieve great things, but also acquire a depth, warmth, and humor that comes from trying experience." The university conferred 1,694 degrees. There were 601 men and 485 women in the graduating class, of whom 48.4 percent received honors. Undergraduate degrees included 910 bachelors of arts and 176 bachelors of science in engineering (two members of earlier classes also received degrees). The university awarded 606 advanced degrees. In his address to the graduates and guests, Shapiro spoke of the signature the Class of '97 made on the university. Noting the synergistic relationship between students and teachers, he said that both engage in the search for truth, developing a deeper understanding of beliefs, and building a sense of community. "We should all remember that teaching and learning affect not only our cognitive abilities and skills, but also impact our character, our creativity, and our humanity. Teaching and learning, therefore, are among society's most important moral activities." Shapiro presented Distinguished Teaching Awards to Miguel Centano, associate professor of sociology; Emmet Gowin, professor in the Council of the Humanities and Visual Arts; Gideon Rosen *89, assistant professor of philosophy; and Lawrence Rosen, professor of anthropology. At Class Day ceremonies on June 2, held in Dillon Gymnasium due to heavy rain, the university presented awards to seniors for outstanding athletic and academic achievements. The W. Sanderson Detwiler '03 Prize, for the person who has done the most for the class, went to Christina Cragholm, an English major. Cragholm was a class secretary, a member of the championship women's rugby team, and an Orange Key tour guide. Michael Fischer won the Class of 1901 Medal, honoring the senior who has done the most for Princeton. Fischer, who majored in the Woodrow Wilson School, was the Undergraduate Student Government president in 1996. The Priscilla Glickman '92 Memorial Prize, which recognizes community service, went to Stephanie Benzaquen, a psychology major; Saflya Daniels, who majored in the Wilson School; and Misha Simmonds, a history major. All have been involved in teaching-related service projects. The Harold Willis Dodds *14 Achievement Award, for the senior who best embodies the qualities of Princeton's 15th president, was shared by Fischer and Suman Chakraborty, a Wilson School major and president of the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Alliance. The Frederick Douglass Service Award, given for contributions to racial minorities, was shared by Joanne Augustin, a sociology major, and Rebeca Clay, who majored in religion; both earned certificates in African-American studies. Augustin was a member of the Race Relations Working Group; Clay was active in the movement for Asian-American and Latino studies. Keith Wilkerson received the newly instituted Allen Macy Dulles '51 Award, which goes to the senior "whose activities . . . best represent Princeton in the nation's service and in the service of all nations." Wilkerson, a religion major, initiated a community-service program for tutoring inner-city students. The William Winston Roper '02 Trophy, the highest honor for a male athlete, went to Sydney Johnson, a history major, the only three-time captain in the 96-year history of Princeton basketball. The C. Otto von Kienbusch '06 Sportswoman of the Year Award went to Amanda Pfeiffer, the 1997 Softball Player of the Year and captain of the women's ice-hockey team. Andrew McClintic, a four-year participant in cross country and track, won the Class of 1916 Cup as the varsity letter-winner with the highest academic standing. In his Baccalaureate address, delivered Sunday, June 1, Senator William Frist '74 urged seniors to believe in themselves. The former transplant surgeon quoted one of his favorite teachers, the late chemistry professor Hubert N. Alyea '24 *28: "If you have to choose between doing the ordinary and the unexpected, do the unexpected. It is the unexpected that leads to the fulfilling life." -Maria LoBiondo
Honorary Degree Recipients Alberts is a distinguished biochemist recognized for his extensive study of the protein complexes that allow chromosomes to be replicated, as required for a living cell to divide. After earning a doctorate in biophysics from Harvard University, he joined Princeton's faculty in 1966. In 1976 he was appointed professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, where he taught and was chair of the department until his appointment to the presidency of the National Academy of Sciences in 1993. Alberts has long been committed to the improvement of education, serving on national boards and committees to strengthen the teaching of science.
James E. Burke Burke retired from Johnson & Johnson in 1989 after over 40 years with that company. During his 15 years of leadership, the company earned a reputation as a model for responsible corporate citizenship. His reputation for direct, honest dealings with consumers was underscored as a result of the "Tylenol scare," when cyanide was discovered in tampered samples of the product. Burke is one of the country's foremost experts on reducing demand for illegal drugs, and since he became chairman of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, that organization has undertaken the largest public service media campaign in history. He also serves as chairman of the Business Enterprise Trust.
Larry Doby On July 5, 1947, Doby signed a contract with the Cleveland Indians, less than three months after Jackie Robinson's debut with the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers. A high-school star in four sports, Doby began his professional baseball career with the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League, leading them to the Negro World Series championship in 1946. With the Indians, he played in six consecutive All-Star games and was the first African American to play on a World Series championship team (1948), to hit a home run in a World Series, and to lead the major league in home runs (1952). In 1978 he became only the second African-American manager in major-league history. He currently serves as a special assistant to the president of the American League.
Mamphela Aletta Ramphele A physician and an anthropologist, Ramphele was installed in 1996 as vice-chancellor (president) of the University of Cape Town (UCT), one of South Africa's most distinguished universities. Her political career began as a student when she worked to end apartheid as a member of the Black Consciousness Movement, which she helped found with Steven Biko. The government placed her in internal exile for seven years. During this time, she established the Ithuseng Community Health Program in Tzaneen, northern Transvaal. She joined UCT in 1984 and coedited Uprooting Poverty: The South African Challenge, considered to be the definitive study of the socio-economic problems facing South Africa. In 1991, she became deputy vice-chancellor of UCT. In that post she played a pivotal role in the university's transformation while continuing her own research.
Stuart John Saunders The author of nearly 200 papers on liver disease, Saunders was, successively, professor of medicine, chair of the department of medicine, deputy vice-chancellor, and, from 1981 to 1996, vice-chancellor (president) of the University of Cape Town (UCT). As vice-chancellor, he was a courageous leader who broadened access for black students well in advance of changes in government policy. Despite the Group Areas Act, he housed black students on campus, and he challenged government attempts to limit freedom of expression on campus. Saunders's transformation of UCT led, in his last year in office, to an entering class that was more than 50 percent black. In 1995 he signed an agreement allowing Princeton students to study at UCT, Princeton's first such agreement with a foreign university.
Carl E. Schorske Recruited to Princeton in 1969 from the University of California at Berkeley, Professor Schorske retired from the faculty in 1980. His teaching, research, and writings have gained international acclaim for their extraordinary blending of art history, European political and cultural life, international history, urban development, literary criticism, psychoanalysis, and the emergence of 20th-century culture. In 1981 his Fin-de-Siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture won a Pulitzer Prize. "In the field of European cultural studies that he helped so much to found," says his citation, "his meticulously crafted scholarship inspires, illuminates, and challenges."
Homer A. Thompson From 1947 to 1968 Thompson was the chief archaeologist at the excavation by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens of the ancient Athenian market place, the Agora. His work in the Agora helped revolutionize understanding of Greek art, architecture, society, and democracy; his efforts at architectural preservation and environmental conservation in the area around the Acropolis have shaped the city of Athens in the postwar period. A member of the Institute for Advanced Study from 1947 to 1977, Thompson has often been a visiting member of Princeton's faculty and has taught generations of students the techniques of excavation.
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