Commencement Speaker: Desmond Tutu and the Honorary Degree Recipients

Click on a recipient's picture to see their biography.

Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu who was the first black Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa will deliver the Commencement address at Penn's 247th Commencement on Monday, May 19 at Franklin Field. Archbishop Tutu's biographical sketch was published in the November 5, 2002 issue of Almanac and is available on line at www.upenn.edu/almanac/v49/n11/tutu.html.

Archbishop Tutu will receive an honorary degree as will five other recipients.

Stephen Breyer, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the US, is admired for his distinguished dedication to Constitutional law, brilliance about governmental regulation in a free market society, and passion for teaching America's future lawyers.

Herbert J. Gans, the first graduate of Penn's doctoral program in City Planning, whose research and commentary on urban sociology and planning has served as a national standard for more than 50 years.

Sadako Ogata, whose tireless work to aid the world's refugees has demonstrated a lifetime of humanitarian compassion, visionary leadership, and distinguished diplomacy.

Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, who played a key role in the historic struggle to end apartheid in South Africa, is a renowned international leader who has advanced the cause of human rights and equal opportunity with tireless determination. Philip Roth, a Pulitzer-prize winning author who writes vividly about the inescapable predicaments of existence while capturing all the human strangeness of life as it is lived.

Click here for more on the honorary degree recipients. For commencement information see the website, www.upenn.edu/commencement or call the hotline, (215) 573-GRAD.