Celebrated journalist to speak at Commencement

Christiane Amanpour, internationally renowned journalist and free press advocate, named by Time Magazine as the most influential foreign correspondent since Edward R. Murrow, will give the main address and receive an honorary degree at Spring Commencement 10 a.m. April 29 in Michigan Stadium.

Amanpour (Photo courtesy CNN)

Ostrom (Photo courtesy Elinor Ostrom)

Richardson (Photo courtesy W.K. Kellogg Foundation)

Sen (Photo courtesy Harvard University)

White (Photo courtesy C.S. Mott Foundation)

The Board of Regents March 17 approved honorary degrees for Amanpour and four other recipients.

"Today's graduates are entering a world that is more complex than ever," President Mary Sue Coleman says. "Christiane Amanpour plays an important role in communicating and explaining the global challenges of our time and I am pleased she will share her observations with our graduates."

The honorary degrees to be conferred are: Amanpour, Doctor of Humane Letters; Elinor Ostrom, a path-breaking environmental policy theorist, Doctor of Humane Letters; William C. Richardson, president emeritus of The Johns Hopkins University and former president of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Doctor of Laws; Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize-winning economist, Doctor of Science; and William S. White, longtime president of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Doctor of Laws.

Sen will be the main speaker at the University Graduate Exercises to be held at 1 p.m. April 28 in Hill Auditorium.

Amanpour for decades has covered news stories in hazardous locations across the globe, ranging from war in the Balkans to famine in Somalia to the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina. She also is well known as a staunch advocate for freedom of the press throughout the world.

Amanpour was born in Iran and her family fled Tehran after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Educated in Britain and the United States, she entered the field of journalism soon after graduating from the University of Rhode Island. In 1983 she joined the newly formed cable news network CNN and now is its chief international correspondent. Amanpour has been on the front lines of many volatile events, including crises in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia and Bosnia.

Amanpour received two George Foster Peabody Awards and a Courage in Journalism Award for her coverage of the conflict in the Balkans. Her connection to U-M dates from 1992, when she was presented with the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists. For nearly 10 years, Amanpour has served on the selection panel for the Livingston Awards, which are administered by the University. Her other honors include the 2002 Edward R. Murrow Award for Distinguished Achievement in Broadcast Journalism and nine Emmy Awards.

Ostrom widely is recognized for innovative work in the areas of environmental policy and common property resources. She currently is the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University.

Ostrom attended the University of California, Los Angeles, for all of her degrees, including a doctorate, specializing in political science and economics. Her earliest publications explored the intersection of public policy and natural resources. She coined the term "common pool resources" to signify natural resources used by many individuals, such as fisheries, groundwater basins and irrigation systems, many of which have been exploited by individuals acting in their own interests. Her most influential book, "Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action," published in 1990, has become a central resource for policy makers and researchers in addressing the problems of shared resources.

Ostrom was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and as a member of the National Academy of Science in 2001. She is past president of the American Political Science Association and has been president of the Public Choice Society, the Midwest Political Science Association and the International Association for the Study of Common Property.

Richardson is president emeritus of The Johns Hopkins University and was for 10 years president of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, one of the leading philanthropic organizations in the country. In both positions, he has provided widely respected leadership in the areas of education, health care and philanthropy.

Richardson earned a bachelor's degree in history from Trinity College (Conn.), followed by a MBA and doctorate in business from the University of Chicago. His academic career began in 1971 at the University of Washington, where he became graduate dean before moving to Pennsylvania State University as provost in 1984, then to Johns Hopkins as president in 1990.

In 1995, Richardson accepted the presidency of the Kellogg Foundation, a position from which he retired in December. The foundation's mission is "to help people help themselves," and he worked to bring that concept to life in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and South Africa. He also supported many programs in the state of Michigan through the foundation.

Richardson's vision and support have been instrumental in transforming the schools of Information and Public Health. Recently, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation created the William C. Richardson Fellowship for Public Policy and Philanthropy at the University in his honor.

Sen is recognized as the foremost authority in the field of welfare economics in the past century. He not only has developed the most advanced theories in the field, but also has issued a global call for action regarding the alleviation of poverty and inequality. For this work he was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics.

Sen, the Lamont University Professor at Harvard University, attended a school founded by the great Indian poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. He saw the violent impact of the sectarian politics that engulfed India in the 1940s, and witnessed death resulting from the clash of politics and the lack of individual economic freedom caused by extreme poverty and famine. He received bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Trinity College at Cambridge University.

His book, "Collective Choice and Social Welfare," attempts to take an overall view of social choice theory, enquiring whether reasonable social choice is possible, given the differences in preferences among individuals. In addition to Harvard University, Sen also has held faculty appointments at Oxford University, Cambridge University and other institutions. He is a fellow of the British Academy, honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Philosophical Society.

White has been a leader in the field of philanthropy during his 30-year tenure as president of the Flint-based Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Under his guidance the Mott Foundation has transformed individual lives and communities through its commitment to promoting a just, equitable and sustainable society.

White earned his bachelor's degree and MBA from Dartmouth College. After working on the New York Stock Exchange and serving in the U.S. Army National Guard, he joined the Mott Foundation as a consultant, eventually becoming the third president in the history of the foundation in 1976.

White extended the reach of the foundation through his international activities, including being a member of the Carter Center's observation team for the Palestinian elections in 1996, and participation on a U.S. presidential mission to Croatia. President Clinton recognized him for his efforts on behalf of the initiative known as the 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

The impact of the Foundation is highly visible at U-M. A 1964 donation from the foundation 1964 helped build the current C.S.Mott Children's Hospital, and a recent $25 million gift will help create a new state-of-the-art building. On the Flint campus, the William S. White Building provides educational opportunities as well as being an urban wellness center.