2021 Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipient
Baccalaureate
Saturday June 5 2021, 4:00 p.m.
Speaker: Reverend Erin Hayes-Cook ’02, Pastor First Presbyterian Church, Rahway, New Jersey
Commencement
Sunday June 6, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
Speaker: The Honorable John Fetterman ’91, Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant Governor Fetterman will be receiving an honorary degree during the Commencement ceremony.
Honoris Causa (trans. “for the sake of honor”)
An honorary degree is conferred in recognition of exemplary scholarship, outstanding creative achievement, or distinguished public service. The credentials of candidates are reviewed by a special committee whose recommendations are approved by the faculty and trustees of the College.
Honorary degrees have been awarded by American institutions of higher learning since Harvard conferred the doctor of sacred theology on its president, Increase Mather, in 1692. Most honorary degrees take the form of doctorates, for example, doctor of laws, humane letters, divinity, science, literature, letters or music.
Albright College has conferred honorary degrees upon notable individuals including playwright Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage; Nobel Prize winner Phillip Sharp; novelist and Reading native John Updike; pianist André Watts; children’s activist Marian Wright Edelman; African writer and prisoner of conscience Ngugi wa Thiong’o; author and conservationist Jane Goodall; poet and author Maya Angelou; Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell and the First Lady of Pennsylvania, the Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell; Oscar Arias, Nobel Peace laureate and former president of Costa Rica; author Kathleen Norris; and human rights activist John Prendergast. We are proud to welcome today’s honorees into this society of outstanding individuals.