Today, the College announced that it will award nine honorary degrees at the Class of 2024 commencement ceremony on June 9. The College will award three Doctors of Humane Letters, two Doctors of Laws, one Doctor of Letters and three Doctors of Science to individuals who have made significant contributions to athletics, the arts, law and the sciences.
Commencement speaker Roger Federer will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Other Doctor of Humane Letters recipients include physician-scientist and philanthropist Roy Vagelos and former government relations specialist in the oil and gas industry Richard Ranger ’74. Vagelos currently serves as the chairman of the board of advisors of Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, which bears his name. Ranger is a business and law lecturer at Uganda Christian University.
Former U.S. representative for Wyoming and vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee Liz Cheney and former National Security Agency director Paul Nakasone will receive Doctors of Laws honorary degrees. Cheney is also the author of “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning,” which recounts her experience in the House of Representatives on Jan. 6. Before his retirement from military service in February, Nakasone, a former four-star general, also served as commander of United States Cyber Command.
Former professional football player and assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology John Urschel will receive a Doctor of Letters. Urschel, who previously played as a lineman for the Baltimore Ravens before transitioning to a career in academia, is the author of “Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football.”
Algorithmic Justice League founder and author of “Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines” Joy Buolamwini will receive a Doctor of Science. Buolamwini researches how AI systems and facial recognition technologies perpetuate harmful stereotypes.
The College will also award a Doctor of Science to both Purdue University President Mung Chiang and OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati Th’12. Prior to his current role, Chiang served as the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering at Purdue. At OpenAI, Murati has worked on groundbreaking projects such as ChatGPT, Dall-E and Codex and briefly served as the company’s interim chief executive last November.
