Board Committee Documents Academic Policy, Programs And
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I.B.11 – THE GRADUATE SCHOOL - HONORARY DEGREES TO BE AWARDED AT THE SCHOOL’S ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY ON JUNE 3, 2014 RESOLVED, that the Graduate Center award Eugene Goodheart, Leonard A. Lauder, and Ján Vilček the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, at the college’s annual Commencement ceremony on June 3, 2014. EXPLANATION: Professor Emeritus Eugene Goodheart, Ph.D., is a prolific scholar of English Literature, an acclaimed personal essayist, and a public intellectual. He has published over a dozen books and has written extensively for both academic and general audiences. His exemplary scholarship was recognized with fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the American Council of Learned Societies. While Brandeis was his academic home from 1983 until his retirement in 2006 (as Edytha Macy Gross Professor of Humanities), Professor Goodheart also taught at Bard College, the University of Chicago, MIT, Mount Holyoke, and at Baruch College while doing graduate work at Columbia. Leonard A. Lauder is a highly successful businessman, a dedicated philanthropist, and a world- renowned patron of the arts. Currently chairman emeritus of the Estée Lauder Companies, Inc., Mr. Lauder served as President from 1972 to 1995 and Chief Executive Officer from 1982 to 1999, transforming the company into a global empire. With this professional success, he has generously supported research in medicine, education, and science and enriched New York’s cultural life as one of its most passionate and influential art benefactors. His gift last year of 78 Cubist paintings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of its most important donations. With the Lauder family, he was the recipient of the 2011 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in recognition of their longstanding commitment to philanthropy and public service. Ján Vilček, M.D., Ph.D., is a biomedical scientist, educator, inventor and philanthropist. A professor of microbiology at New York University’s School of Medicine, Dr. Vilček has devoted his research to the regulators of the immune systems, specifically interferon. He has published over 350 papers in scientific journals and holds over 40 U.S. patents. He is also president of the Vilček Foundation, which he founded in 2000 with his wife. Their work supports the significant contributions of immigrants to the sciences, arts, and culture in the United States. The foundation awards prizes to foreign-born individuals now living permanently in the U.S., provides gallery space for immigrant artists and performers, and honors those who have demonstrated early achievement in biomedical sciences and the arts. Honorary Degree Candidate, Doctor of Humane Letters Commencement, 2014 Professor Emeritus Eugene Goodheart Eugene Goodheart is a prolific scholar of English literature, an acclaimed personal essayist, and a public intellectual. His teaching and commentary have contributed to the thinking of students and the thoughtful public alike for the last half-century. While Brandeis University was his academic home from 1983 until his retirement in 2006 (as Edytha Macy Gross Professor of Humanities), Professor Goodheart also taught at Bard College, the University of Chicago, Mount Holyoke, MIT – and even at the Baruch Business School (now Zicklin School of Business) while doing graduate work at Columbia. Professor Goodheart earned his BA from Columbia College, his master’s degree from the University of Virginia and his PhD at Columbia University, where he worked with Lionel Trilling and Jacques Barzun. His exemplary scholarship was recognized with fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the American Council of Learned Societies. He was elected to PEN in 1983. Eugene (Gene) Goodheart has written extensively for both academic and general audiences, contributing regularly to prestigious publications such as Dissent, the literary journal Sewanee Review, and Partisan Review, where he served as a corresponding editor from 1978 until the publication’s closure in 2003. He has published over a dozen books, ranging from The Failure of Criticism (1978), an early work of literary criticism, to essays of universal importance collected in his most recent book, Mostly Grave Thoughts: On Mortality and Other Matters (2013). A humanist who exemplifies the humane scholar’s deep engagement with both the perennial and topical Eugene Goodheart merits this high honor from the Graduate Center. Honorary Degree Candidate, Doctor of Humane Letters Commencement, 2014 Mr. Leonard A. Lauder As a businessman, philanthropist and patron of art, Leonard Lauder's contribution to American society has been profound. While building the cosmetics business founded by his mother, in 1958, into a global empire, he has also generously supported research in medicine, education and science, and enriched New York's cultural life as one its most passionate and influential art benefactors. Currently chairman emeritus of The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc., Mr. Lauder served as President from 1972 to 1995 and Chief Executive Officer from 1982 to 1999, transforming his company, and possibly even the industry, by launching such iconic brands as Aramis, Clinique and Origins, and acquiring others, like M·A·C, Bobbi Brown and Aveda. With this professional success Mr. Lauder then dedicated himself to the creation and support of public institutions of research and art. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, he is a trustee emeritus there and co-founder of its Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies. He helped to create The Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York, and co-founded the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, for which he currently serves as co-chairman of its board of governors. He is also a trustee and chairman emeritus of The Aspen Institute, the educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Perhaps even more significant, however, is Mr. Lauder's lifelong patronage of art. Following his childhood passion, Mr. Lauder created one of the world's greatest private collections, much of which he has now donated to museums. His gift last year of 78 Cubist paintings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of its most important. A longtime benefactor of the Whitney Museum, Mr. Lauder serves as chairman emeritus of its board of trustees. In 2008 he made the largest donation in the Whitney's history. A life-long New Yorker, Mr. Lauder was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and has served on the Council on Foreign Relations. The government of France named him an Officier de la Légion d’Honneur and presented him with the National Order of Merit. With the Lauder family, he was the recipient of the 2011 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in recognition of their longstanding commitment to philanthropy and public service. Honorary Degree Candidate, Doctor of Humane Letters Commencement, 2014 Ján Vilček, M.D., Ph.D. Ján Vilček is a biomedical scientist, educator, inventor and philanthropist. He is a professor of microbiology at New York University’s School of Medicine. He is also president of the Vilcek Foundation, which he founded in 2000 with his wife, Marica. A native of Slovakia, part of the former Czechoslovakia, Dr. Vilček received his medical training and Ph.D. there before immigrating to the United States in 1965, and settling in New York City. Dr. Vilček has devoted his research to regulators of the immune system, specifically interferon. He has published over 350 papers in scientific journals and holds over forty U.S. patents. Dr. Vilček’s research led to the development of a potent anti-inflammatory agent, which in turn created a drug widely used in the treatment of various inflammatory autoimmune diseases. Through their work with the Vilcek Foundation, Dr. and Mrs. Vilček celebrate and support the contribution of immigrants to the sciences, arts and culture in the United States. The foundation awards prizes to foreign-born individuals now living permanently in the United States, provides gallery space for immigrant artists and performers, and sponsors special events. In addition, the foundation honors those who have demonstrated early achievement in biomedical science and a selected art field. Outside of the foundation, the Vilčeks have been generous benefactors to biomedical research and education. .