Preeminent Leaders Awarded Honorary Degrees
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Preeminent Leaders Awarded Honorary Degrees
Philanthropist Teresa Heinz Delivers Keynote Address

Keynote speaker Teresa Heinz and four prestigious honorary degree recipients, known for their outstanding contributions to the humanities, public policy, business, science, technology and the Pittsburgh community, will be featured in Carnegie Mellon's 106th commencement exercises on Sunday, May 18, in Gesling Stadium.

T. Heinz More than 3,000 degrees will be conferred at the main ceremony, which begins at 11 a.m. and will be broadcast on the Web.

This year's honorary degree recipients have both local ties and international reputations as leaders in their fields. George Armitage Miller, a native of Charleston, W. Va., will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters for his pioneering contributions to the field of cognitive psychology. He will also give the keynote address at the doctor's hooding ceremony at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Pittsburgh resident Paul H. O'Neill, the 72nd Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, will receive an honorary doctorate of public policy for his commitment to advancements in technical innovation, management and public service.

Ivan Sutherland (E'59), a pioneering researcher, educator and businessman will receive the honorary doctorate in science and technology for his major innovations in computer graphics, robotics and computer architecture.

James Mellon Walton will receive an honorary doctorate in humane letters for his distinguished career in business and service to the Pittsburgh community. (See below for more on the honorary degree recipients.)

The Honorary Degrees Committee, headed by Harold Paxton, the U.S. Steel University Professor of Materials Science and Engineering emeritus, and President Jared L. Cohon selected the recipients.

"Our honorary degree recipients are preeminent leaders in their respective fields and exceptional role models for our graduates," said President Cohon. "We are honored and privileged to have such an outstanding group."

Philanthropist Teresa Heinz, who received an honorary doctorate from Carnegie Mellon in 2000, will deliver this year's keynote address. Heinz is chair of the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Heinz Family Philanthropies, which are widely known for their innovative efforts to support the environment, improve education, broaden economic opportunity and promote the arts.

"Teresa Heinz is one of the world's strongest voices on behalf of the environment, education, and women's and children's issues," Cohon said.

Heralded by the Utne Reader in 1995 as one of 100 American Visionaries, Heinz has long been recognized as one of the nation's premier environmental leaders. She created the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, which brings together representatives of business, government, the scientific community and environmental groups to collaborate on the development of mutually acceptable, scientifically sound environmental policies. She serves on the board of Environmental Defense and has been active in organizations dedicated to human rights and to educating the public on how the environment impacts the health of both women and children.

Heinz has championed the education of women regarding the importance of pensions, savings and retirement security. She has published a nationally acclaimed book, "Pensions in Crisis," and a magazine supplement called "What Every Woman Needs To Know About Money and Retirement," which was published in Good Housekeeping and U.S. Airways Attaché magazine.

Heinz has served as a board member or trustee for numerous schools and institutions across the country, including the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the American Institute for Public Service, the Brookings Institution, the National Gallery of Art, the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh and Family Communications, which produced Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

A native of Mozambique, Heinz received a bachelor's degree in romance languages and literature from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She later served as a full-time consultant to the United Nations Trusteeship in New York City and has been awarded honorary degrees from many prestigious colleges and universities.

Carnegie Mellon's School of Urban and Public Affairs was renamed the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management in memory of her late husband, U.S. Senator John Heinz. Heinz is now married to U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), who has announced his candidacy for President of the United States.

Joining Heinz in addressing the crowd in Gesling Stadium will be this year's student commencement speaker, Theresa Nguyen, a biological sciences major with a minor in chemistry. Her speech is titled "Achieving a Dream, Living the Reality."

The Heinz School and the business school will also have celebrated keynote speakers at their diploma ceremonies.

John Podesta, chief of staff for President Bill Clinton from 1998 to 2001, will deliver the keynote address at the Heinz School's ceremony. Glen Meakem, founder and chairman of FreeMarkets, will speak at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration (GSIA), and Brian S. Wood, president of The Columbia House Company, will address undergraduate students in the business school.

For more commencement information, including diploma ceremonies and receptions and information for international visitors, visit www.cmu.edu/commencement.


Honorary Degree Recipients Cited for Contributions, Commitment

George Armitage Miller
Doctor of Humane Letters

George Armitage Miller will receive an honorary doctorate in humane letters for his pioneering contributions to the field of cognitive psychology.

The James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, emeritus, at Princeton University, Miller is widely recognized for describing the fundamental limitations of short-term memory. His famous paper, "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two," established fundamental limitations on human memory, perception and learning, and is popular among both psychology and education professionals worldwide.

Miller received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Alabama in 1940 and 1941, and went on to earn both master's and doctor's degrees from Harvard University. He was an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard before joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty in 1951. He spent a year at Oxford University as a Fulbright Research Professor. He became a professor at Princeton in 1979.

Miller has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including The National Medal of Science and the American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award. He was also awarded the John P. McGovern Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has received numerous honorary degrees and a Guggenheim fellowship.

Miller serves on Carnegie Mellon's Psychology Department Advisory Board. He is a native of Charleston, W. Va., and has two children.

Paul H. O'Neill
Doctor of Public Policy

Paul H. O'Neill, the 72nd Secretary of the U.S. Treasury from 2001 to 2002, will receive an honorary doctorate of public policy for his commitment to advancements in technical innovation, management and public service.

O'Neill was chief executive officer of Alcoa before serving as Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. During his time with the company, O'Neill led the international corporation to the top of the Dow Jones industrial average in 1999. One accomplishment of which he is most proud was improving Alcoa's safety record. He helped lower the annual rate of workplace incidents from 1.85 per 100 workers in 1987 to 0.17 per 100 in 2000. He retired from Alcoa in 2000.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, O'Neill has been a leader in many civic pursuits in Western Pennsylvania. He has served as president of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and co-chair of the Riverlife Task Force. As chairman of the RAND Corporation Board, he was instrumental in RAND's choice to locate its fourth major global office in Pittsburgh. He is also active in the national Council on Competitiveness.

O'Neill earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics at Fresno State College and a master of public administration degree at Indiana University. He and his wife, Nancy, have four children and 12 grandchildren. They reside in Pittsburgh.

Ivan E. Sutherland (E'59)
Doctor of Science and Technology

Ivan Sutherland, a pioneering researcher, educator and businessman responsible for major innovations in computer graphics, robotics, virtual reality and computer architecture, will be awarded an honorary doctorate in science and technology.

After earning a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1959, Sutherland received a master's degree from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he designed "Sketchpad," the first interactive system for computer graphics, as part of his doctoral thesis. After completing his Ph.D., Sutherland joined the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Sutherland left DARPA after two years to become an associate professor of computer science at Harvard University, where he built the first head-mounted display for three-dimensional computer-generated images with his student, Bob Sproull.

From 1976 to 1980, Sutherland was the Fletcher Jones Professor of Computer Science and head of the computer science program at the California Institute of Technology. He left in 1980 to serve as vice president of the consulting firm Sutherland, Sproull and Associates, Inc. At Carnegie Mellon in the early 1980s, he constructed a hydraulic, six-legged walking robot.

Sutherland, Sproull and Associates, Inc., was eventually acquired by Sun Microsystems. Sutherland is now vice president and a fellow of Sun Microsystems.

Sutherland has received numerous awards, including the first Zworykin Award from the National Academy of Engineering, the A.M. Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery and the prestigious Smithsonian Price Waterhouse Information Technology Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement.

His son, Dean, is a Ph.D. student in software engineering at Carnegie Mellon.

James M. Walton
Doctor of Humane Letters

James Mellon Walton will receive an honorary doctorate in humane letters recognizing his distinguished career in business and community service.

After earning a bachelor's degree from Yale University, Walton served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in West Germany for two years. Upon his honorable discharge from the Army, he received an MBA from Harvard University and went on to work for Gulf Oil Corporation from 1958 to 1967. In 1970, he was elected a director of Gulf Oil.

Walton was president of the Carnegie Institute (Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Art) and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh from 1968 until 1984. He helped revitalize the Carnegie Institute and maintain its standing as a leading authority in art and natural history. He remained a life trustee of both institutions when he retired, and was elected the institute's president emeritus.

Walton is chair of the Vira I. Heinz Endowment and directs several philanthropic organizations for the benefit of Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania and humanity. He is a trustee emeritus of Carnegie Mellon, and a trustee of the Sarah Scaife Foundation. He has served as a member of the Cultural District Development Committee and is director of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh.

In 1985 President Reagan appointed Walton to a four-year term on the National Graduate Fellows Program Fellowship Board in Washington, D.C.

Walton has been a good friend to both Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon, helping to shape the mission and future of the city and university. He and his wife, Ellen, have four children and seven grandchildren.

Susan Cribbs


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