Dartmouth Awards Honorary Degrees to Eight Exceptional Individuals

Dartmouth awarded honorary degrees to eight extraordinary individuals at its 2022 Commencement on June 12, 2022. Below is the text of the formal citations read aloud for each recipient as they were presented with their honorary doctorate degrees. 

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Successful business executives Shobhana and Shyam Bhartia, of India, were among the 2022 Honorary Degree recipients.

SHOBHANA and SHYAM BHARTIA, as successful business executives, you have modeled leadership and commitment in your chosen fields while inspiring a nation of visionary women and entrepreneurs, respectively, in India.

Shobhana, you joined the Hindustan Times as chief executive in 1986 at the age of 29 – the first woman to become chief executive of a national newspaper in India, and one of the youngest to take on the role. Rising to chairperson and editorial director at HT Media Limited, you transformed what had been a single-paper company into a successful media conglomerate. You sought to draw youth into public discourse, and you did, broadening the scope of the paper while using multi-media platforms to reach entirely new demographics in entirely new geographies. In so doing, you not only educated and informed your citizenry, but helped shape public opinion in the world's largest democracy.

Shyam, over the course of four decades, you have earned a reputation as an astute business executive with an eye for opportunity. Together with your brother, Hari, you co-founded the Jubilant Bhartia Group where, as chairman, you grew a family business into a highly successful international conglomerate. You began in chemicals, transitioned to pharmaceuticals, and expanded to international food retail, proving that your business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit transcend industry. With four companies listed on Indian Stock Exchanges, you've led and inspired a global workforce of more than 46,000 employees, while demonstrating a deep commitment to corporate social responsibility.

Together, Shobhana and Shyam, you are the ultimate power couple, and you've used that power for good – Shobhana, through your service in parliament and advocacy for women and education, and Shyam, through the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and your commitment to cultivating a new generation of social entrepreneurs.

For your outstanding achievements in business and in service to your country and communities, Dartmouth is proud to award you each the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

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Distinguished diplomat and development professional Kul Gautam '72 was proud to receive an Honorary Degree from his alma mater at Dartmouth's 2022 Commencement.

KUL GAUTAM, as a distinguished diplomat, development professional, and human rights activist, you have proven yourself to be the world's ultimate citizen-leader, fighting poverty and injustice, fiercely advocating for peace, and significantly improving the welfare of children worldwide.

Born in 1949 in a small village in Nepal, you learned English, in part, by playing Scrabble with Peace Corps volunteers. When one of those volunteers, a Dartmouth '65 named Zachary Hahn, inspired your dream of studying at Dartmouth, you made that dream a reality. 

An exceptionally gifted student, you became the first Nepali ever to be admitted to the College, arriving in Hanover in 1968. You graduated just three years later with a degree in international relations that would serve as the foundation for your life's work.

You began your career as a program officer at UNICEF in 1973, rising to become both deputy executive director of UNICEF and assistant secretary general of the United Nations in the year 2000. In your 35 years with the organization, you not only played a central role in providing life-saving vaccines to the world's most vulnerable children, but increased access to education for girls and laid the groundwork for today's Sustainable Development Goals.

True to your roots, you gave back to your home country as special adviser to the prime minister of Nepal on international affairs and have continued to actively promote human rights, socioeconomic development, democracy, and good governance in Nepal's civil society.

For your belief in a hopeful future – particularly for the children of the world – and for your lifelong commitment to making that future possible as a humanitarian of the highest order, it is our privilege to award you the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

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Claudia Goldin delights in being hooded as a 2022 Honorary Degree recipient.

CLAUDIA GOLDIN, as a pioneering labor economist and economic historian, your leadership on topics ranging from immigration to women in the workforce has placed you among the most influential and insightful American economists working in the world today.

Arriving at Cornell University as a rather precocious student in 1963, you were invigorated to learn just how little you knew. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge, you drank in the liberal arts, eventually discovering economics, the field you would opt to pursue.

Under the mentorship of the great Alfred Kahn and, later, Gary Becker and Robert Fogel, you excelled in your own right, earning your Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1972. 

Best known for your research into the rise of women in the labor force and its impact on the U.S. economy, you continually look to the past to better understand the present. Likening yourself to a detective sleuthing for clues, it is the intensity and thoroughness of your investigations that set you apart. Your 1990 book, "Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women," remains the seminal work on the reasons behind the gender pay gap. 

For nearly 30 years, you served as director of the Development of the American Economy program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 1990, you became the first woman to be granted tenure in the economics department at Harvard, where you continue to teach and delight in discovery alongside your students.
 
For your lifetime contributions to the field of labor economics and your endless pursuit of answers to life's biggest and most complex questions, Dartmouth is proud to award you the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

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President Hanlon confers an honorary degree on financial executive and former chair of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees, Ed Haldeman '70.

CHARLES E. HALDEMAN, as a principled business executive, your distinctive approach to leadership and passion for public service have earned you a reputation for integrity, excellence, and impact, both in the financial management industry and in the world beyond.   

Born and raised in Philadelphia by hard-working parents, you arrived on the Dartmouth campus in 1966 aspiring to a career in medicine. But when Professor Colin Campbell made economics "come alive," you opted for a different path. After graduating summa cum laude from Dartmouth in 1970, you continued your studies at Harvard, simultaneously earning a J.D. and an M.B.A. in 1974. 

For the next 35 years, you applied your mastery of finance and firm understanding of the law to a series of successive leadership roles, first at Cooke & Bieler, then at United Asset Management, and subsequently at Delaware Investments. In leading a successful turn-around of Putnam Investments as CEO in the aftermath of a trading scandal, honesty, transparency, and an employee focus became your calling cards.

In 2009, you took on the daunting task of leading the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the government-sponsored mortgage company known as Freddie Mac. Your success in stabilizing the company at a time of great uncertainty following the 2008 housing crisis solidified your status as a trusted leader, even in the most tumultuous times.

You applied the same ethics and rigor in service to your alma mater as Chair of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees, courageously leading the College through a challenging reorganization of Board governance.

For your dedication to public service in the broadest sense, for your commitment to the highest ethical standards in your work, and for your exceptional organizational leadership, especially in trying times, Dartmouth is proud to award you the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

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Fiona Harrison '85 was one of three distinguished Dartmouth alumni to be awarded an Honorary Degree at 2022 Commencement.

FIONA A. HARRISON, as an award-winning astrophysicist and distinguished teacher-scholar, your pathbreaking work has led to dramatic and revealing images that are significantly advancing human understanding of the evolution of our galaxy.

A self-described "under-confident undergraduate" at Dartmouth in the 1980s, you developed a fascination with physics when a first-year physics course taught by Bruce Pipes sparked you to want to understand "the weird ways the universe works." From that point forward, you never looked back and only looked up, asking questions and seeking answers to the mysteries of outer space.

In 2005, you were named Principal Investigator for NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission, deploying the first focusing telescope to view the universe in the high energy X-ray band. Launched precisely 10 years ago tomorrow, NuSTAR set out to better understand the dynamics of black holes, exploding stars and other cosmic phenomena. With unprecedented sensitivity and spectral and imaging resolution, its findings were revelatory.

Only the second woman ever to lead a NASA mission, you've helped to set the agenda for U.S.-based astronomy and astrophysics research, and your distinguished career has served as an inspiration to women in science everywhere. You are a constant source of encouragement for your colleagues at Caltech, and your leadership and mentorship of students in pushing the frontiers of knowledge are creating an entirely new generation of trailblazers in your field. 

For your innovation and collaboration in developing new instrumentation to better understand the universe, for your keen observational work in the high energy space, and for your exceptional contributions to education and new knowledge creation, Dartmouth is proud to award you the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science.

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Dava Newman was awarded an Honorary Degree from Dartmouth for her pioneering work as an aerospace engineer.

DAVA NEWMAN, as an aerospace engineer, administrator, and educator, you've pioneered technological innovations that are paving the way for exploration and helping to bring a human mission to Mars within reach.

Watching the moon landing as a five-year-old inspired you to dream big, and before long, you were propelled like a rocket from your home in Montana into a career in space. 

With advanced degrees from MIT in aero- and astronautics, technology and policy, and aerospace biomedical engineering, you joined the MIT faculty in 1993 driven to make a difference. Believing that a successful human mission to Mars would require new technology and strong leadership, you made it your purpose to provide both. 

Over the course of two decades, you led an interdisciplinary team in developing a revolutionary new spacesuit known as the BioSuit™. Employing advanced materials in a streamlined design, it significantly enhances mobility and flexibility over conventional gas-pressured spacesuits.

Soon thereafter, you were confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the number two post at NASA, becoming only the third woman to hold the title of deputy administrator. 

Throughout your distinguished career, including, most recently, as Director of the MIT Media Lab, you have championed the role of diversity and inclusion in fueling innovation, regularly bringing people from all walks of life and disparate disciplines together to achieve technological and scientific breakthroughs. 

For your outstanding achievements in aerospace engineering, for your visionary leadership of our country's space program, and for your passion and commitment to exploration, education, and innovation in the broadest sense, Dartmouth is proud to award you the honorary degree of Doctor of Science. 

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Superbowl Champion NFL quarterback and philanthropist Russell Wilson served as Dartmouth's 2022 Commencement speaker.

RUSSELL WILSON, as a record-breaking NFL quarterback, community-minded philanthropist, and successful entrepreneur, your outstanding dedication to both society and your sport has made you one of the most admired and celebrated athletes of our time.

With strong family values, a respect for education and an unparalleled work ethic instilled in you by your parents, you were destined to make a difference. So when your father posed the simple question, "Why not you?," you immediately took it to heart.

You tossed your first football with your father at the age of four. Twenty years later, you were named NFL Rookie of the Year. A nine-time Pro Bowler, you hold the record for most wins by an NFL quarterback through 10 seasons and successfully led the Seattle Seahawks to back-to-back Super Bowls, defeating the Denver Broncos in 2014 to help the team to its first Super Bowl Championship in franchise history.

Your accomplishments on the field are surpassed only by your achievements off the field. 

The Why Not You Foundation you launched with your wife and partner, Ciara, in 2014 has raised over $10 million for pediatric cancer research to date and provided underprivileged youth around the Seattle area with expanded educational opportunities. In 2021, you opened the Why Not You Academy, a tuition-free charter school that prepares students for a lifetime of success, and your inspirational picture book titled "Why Not You?" is empowering children of all ages to actively pursue their dreams. 

In recognition of your outstanding service to the community, the NFL presented you with its most prestigious honor, naming you the 2020 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year.

For your poise, leadership, and sportsmanship, both on and off the field, for your commitment to improving the lives of others, and for your belief in the power of positivity in helping people reach their full potential, Dartmouth is proud to award you the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.