Two prominent individuals will join keynote speaker Jim Lehrer in receiving honorary degrees at this year's commencement ceremony, Tufts announced yesterday. Biographer and journalist David McCullough and literary critic Helen Vendler were selected for the honor because of their roles as public intellectuals who embody fundamental Tufts values, University officials said.
"These three people are among the rare breeds of intellectuals in this country," Provost Sol Gittleman said. They represent "every walk of life, of things we cherish at the University."
Gittleman said this year's selections are particularly important because they are highly respected in the world of academia, but are also extremely influential in the daily lives of the general public.
"Public intellectuals are people of the highest intellectual merit, but who speak to the public, and that is what a university is all about," he said.
Like Lehrer, McCullough is a prominent figure for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and is known for his popular series, "The American Experience," which airs daily.
"I can only offer my own personal view - McCullough's PBS show is the only news I listen to each day," Gittleman said. The provost praised the PBS show because it attracts viewers of all ages. "You can be ten or you can be 60 and watch the show... [McCullough] embodies what life-long learning is all about."
The renowned academic and graduate of Yale University is also the author of a number of books, including Truman, which earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for its controversial depiction of the former US president. McCullough has also participated in the White House presidential lecture series and speaks occasionally in America and abroad.
McCullough will share the stage with Harvard University English Professor Helen Vendler, one of the country's most respected poetry critics. Vendler has authored more than ten books, which include in-depth critiques of the works of John Keats and Wallace Stevens. Like Lehrer and McCullough, Vendler is recognized not only for her work as an academic but also for her role in the public arena.
"She is perhaps the most respected literary critic in the New England region and yet she writes for The New Yorker - she speaks to the public, she teaches," Gittleman said.
Vendler has received 16 other honorary university degrees, including diplomas from Columbia and Yale.
The renowned academic has drawn praise from an array of newspapers and journals nationwide. "Helen Vendler puts herself entirely at the service of the poets she is talking about. Although she writes too well to be invisible, she does not compete or pontificate either," wrote Anatole Broyard of the New York Times. "What she does is offer the poetry to you."
Honorary degree recipients are chosen by a committee of trustees. The committee members, however, look to students, faculty, and other trustees for inspiration in the selection process.
