News
May 17
This year's list of Commencement speakers boasts a unique group of distinguished individuals who have had great accomplishments in various fields including the judicial, scientific, and artistic. Here are profiles of these outstanding individuals.
Margaret H. Marshall
Keynote speaker
Margaret H. Marshall, the Massachusetts Chief Justice and the first woman to lead the state's highest and oldest court, has been chosen as the keynote speaker at the University's 147th Commencement. Chief Justice Marshall will be awarded an honorary degree at the ceremonies.
"As an activist in South Africa and now as the state's chief justice, Margaret H. Marshall has dedicated her life to protecting freedom and justice," University President Lawrence Bacow stated in an e-mail to the student body. "Chief Justice Marshall embodies the value of public service that we encourage and cultivate in all of our students at Tufts. Her tireless life's work in support of social justice should serve as inspiration to us all."
Born in South Africa, Marshall graduated from Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg in 1966. Simultaneously, she became president of the National Union of South African Students and a leader in the anti-apartheid campaign. Soon after, Marshall moved to the United States to attend graduate school, and received a master's degree from Harvard University and her J.D. from Yale Law School.
Marshall has distinguished herself during her long career as a leader in the law community, receiving numerous distinctions and awards. As a practicing attorney, Marshall was an associate, and later a partner, in the Boston law firm of Csaplar & Bok, and was a partner in the Boston law firm of Choate, Hall, & Stewart. In addition, before her appointment to the Supreme Judicial Court, she was Vice President and General Counsel of Harvard University.
First appointed as an associate justice to the state's Supreme Court in November 1996, she was named chief justice in September 1999 by then-Governor Cellucci. As chief justice, Marshall has accomplished many impressive feats, including an initiative to reform the Massachusetts court system. Marshall's long list of accomplishments also includesbecoming president of the Boston Bar Association in 1991, and receiving the American Bar Association's Margaret Brent Award.
Marshall is only the second woman to serve on the state's Supreme Judicial Court in its over 300-year history, and is the first woman to serve as chief justice.
Arthur Mitchell
Honorary degree recipient
A distinguished dancer and choreographer, Arthur Mitchell is, among other things, the founder of the Dance Theater of Harlem in New York City. He is known around the world as a groundbreaking dance innovator.
Mitchell began his dance training at New York City's High School for the Performing Arts, and upon graduation was offered a scholarship to the School of American Ballet, where he made history in 1955 when he became the first African-American male dancer to become a permanent member of a major ballet company. He joined the New York City Ballet where he quickly rose to the position of principal dancer. He spent 15 years with the company, simultaneously performing in films, television shows, nightclubs, and on Broadway.
In 1968, upon learning of the death of his hero, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mitchell became determined to do something to provide increased opportunities for children in Harlem. That summer, he began giving ballet classes to local children and in 1969, with financial assistance from the Ford Foundation, Mitchell founded the Dance Theater of Harlem, meant as both a school of the arts and a professional ballet company. Today, the Dance Theatre of Harlem is a renowned institution, comprising students and dancers from around the world.
Among the many honors and awards conferred on Mitchell are the 1997 "Americans for the Arts" Arts in Education Award, the 1987 National Medal of Arts - the highest honor awarded by the President of the United States in the arts and humanities - and the coveted MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the School of American Ballet Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1993, Mitchell was awarded "Living Landmark" status by the New York Landmark Conservancy. Also in 1993, Mitchell became one of the youngest recipients of the Kennedy Center Honor, celebrating "an extraordinary lifetime of contributions to American culture through the performing arts."
Now receiving an honorary degree from Tufts, Mitchell has also received honorary doctorate degrees from institutions nationwide, including Hamilton College, Brown University, City College of the City University of New York, Harvard University, The Juilliard School, The New School for Social Research, North Carolina School of the Arts, and Williams College.
Mario Molina
Honorary degree recipient
Dr. Mario Molina, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist for his research on the effects of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) on the atmosphere and a professor at MIT, is a leading authority on pollution and its effects on the environment.
Molina was awarded a Nobel Prize for showing, with a University of California at Irvine colleague, that CFCs, which are often used in refrigeration and household items such as hair spray, greatly damage the ozone layer. His research, done in the early 1970s, led to profound policy changes in the decades following. Currently CFCs are banned in developed countries.
Born in Mexico City, Molina holds a Chemical Engineer degree from the Universidad Nacional Aut??noma de M?©xico, a postgraduate degree from the University of Freiburg in West Germany, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He began his years at MIT in 1989 with a joint appointment in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences and the Department of Chemistry, and was named MIT Institute Professor in 1997. Prior to joining MIT, he held teaching and research positions at the Universidad Nacional Aut??noma de M?©xico, the University of California, Irvine, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.
Molina is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. He has served on the US President's Committee of Advisors in Science and Technology, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, the National Research Council Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, and on the boards of US-Mexico Foundation of Science and other non-profit environmental organizations.
Dr. Molina continues to teach while pursuing his research. Most recently, he has directed a joint project between MIT and local government in Mexico City to improve the dangerous air quality situation in his hometown.
Agnes Varis
Honorary degree recipient
Agnes Varis, the founder and president of Agvar Chemicals Inc., is renowned as an innovator and leader in the pharmaceutical industry. Both in her role at Agvar and as founder and president of Aegis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Varis has worked to make her company's products both affordable and accessible. Varis' leadership in the pharmaceutical industry is matched by her dedication to other social causes. As a leader in many charitable projects and organizations, Varis has worked to help the disadvantaged and break down the barriers for women professionally and politically.
Born in Lowell, MA., Varis was one of eight children of Greek immigrant parents. She earned her degree in chemistry and English from Brooklyn College, and later attended New York University to obtain her business degree. Right out of school, she took an entry-level job in a chemical manufacturing company that focused on bulk pharmaceuticals, and eventually, became a leader of the company.
In 1970, Varis left to start her own company, Agvar Chemicals and co-founded Marsam Pharmaceuticals in 1985. In 1992, she became founder and president of Aegis Pharmaceuticals. All three companies are dedicated to "creating pharmaceuticals whose pricing and distribution make them more accessible to underserved populations."
In 1999, Varis was honored with the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) Industry Leadership Award, and in 2000 endowed the Agnes Varis University Chair in Science and Society at Tufts dedicated to exploring scientific discovery and its impact on humankind. It is the first endowed University chair in Tufts' history designed to rotate among each of the schools at the university, thereby encouraging scholarly work in every field and among fields. Her love of animals has also led to many generous donations to Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine, including the Agnes Varis Lecture Hall. Varis is also a member of the Board of Overseers for Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine.
Mohamed el Baradei
Fletcher speaker
Mohamed el Baradei has been the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations, since 1997. He has served as the agency's legal advisor and assistant director general for external relations, among other positions, since 1984.
Born in Egypt in 1942, he earned his law degree from the University of Cairo in 1962, as well as a Doctorate in International Law from New York University Law School in 1974.
His career began in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1964. In 1980 he started his work as the senior fellow heading the International Law Program at the UN Institute for Training and Research. In the meantime, he occasionally served as an adjunct professor at NYU Law School.
El Baradei has become well-versed in the fields of international peace and security, as well as international law making. He is a member of the International Law Association, as well as the American Society of International Law.
Elaine Wang
Wendell Phillips award winner
Elaine Wang will be the only student speaker at Commencement. Her resume might not yet be as lengthy as that of some of today's other speakers, but Wang seeks to make a similarly positive impact upon the world. She plans to study international law in New York following graduation.
One of eight finalists for the award, which is named after a Boston humanitarian and preacher, Wang was selected by the Committee on Student Life after giving a five-minute speech in which she addressed intolerance, prejudice, and hate crimes.
Wang, who honed her public speaking skills during her high school years, plans to discuss these issues in her Commencement speech, "We're very far from an ideal world," she said.
"It is really a great honor to be chosen from such a talented group of people and to be able to share a part of me with my class and the community," Wang said.
