Joining more than 3,500 soon-to-be Wayne State University graduates, a select group of civic, business and cultural leaders will accept honorary degrees for their contributions to society. Wayne State will hold its 143rd commencement ceremonies on May 5 and 6, 2011, at the Matthaei Physical Education Center. Detroit developer Mandell "Bill" Berman, U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn, entrepreneur Mort Harris, Detroit Poet Laureate Naomi Long Madgett and Michigan paving magnate-turned-education advocate Robert Thompson are the 2011 honorees. Each is expected to deliver brief remarks at the time the degree is conferred.

The University will present honorary degrees to Madgett and Thompson at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively, on May 5; Berman and Harris will receive theirs at 10 a.m. on May 6. Cohn will accept his honorary degree at a separate Wayne Law ceremony on May 16.

A Detroit native, Berman earned a bachelor's in economics magna cum laude in 1940 and a master's in business administration in 1942, both from Harvard University. After serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserves during World War II, Berman returned to Detroit and made his professional mark as a builder and developer. In 1946 he joined builder Bert L. Smokler and Company as a partner in charge of marketing and finance. He later became president of Smokler, and then the Dreyfus Development Corporation, and joined the boards of several corporations and Michigan building organizations. Today, Berman is a semi-retired real estate consultant and private investor recognized for his philanthropic connections to numerous arts and educational institutions.

Berman will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for his contributions to education and the arts.

Born in Detroit, Cohn earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, and then spent 1943 to 1946 in the U.S. Army before returning to U-M to earn his law degree. According to former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly, "Cohn dives into research and discussions with great intellectual fervor," and "his intellectual heft and public persona have made him a legend." In 2009, Cohn earned the Michigan State Bar Foundation's highest honor, the Founder's Award, for his exemplary commitment to the legal profession and the community. He is a member of the American Law Institute, a former director of the American Judicature Society and a past president of the Jewish Welfare Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. Cohn will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Born and raised in Detroit, in 1939 Harris enrolled at Wayne University (the name changed to Wayne State University in 1956) to study engineering and, ultimately strengthen Detroit's transportation infrastructure by building roads and highways. His plans changed when the United States entered World War II. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he rose to the rank of captain within six months. A highly decorated pilot, he commanded a B-17 bomber and was nicknamed the "Berlin Kid" in recognition of his 33 successful flight missions over Germany. After the war, Harris embarked on a successful business career in Detroit. An entrepreneur, he owned several companies, including American Axle and Manufacturing, which he co-founded. Harris ran the Mercier Corporation, a manufacturer of metallurgical products, from the late 1960s to 1983, when he sold the business, and served as director of Michigan National Bank.

A self-described "gym aficionado," Harris's largest philanthropic commitment to Wayne State - and one of the lead gifts to the Wayne First capital campaign - created the University's recreation and fitness center in the heart of campus. Named in his honor, the state-of-the-art Mort Harris Recreation and Fitness Center provides exercise equipment and health and wellness services for the Wayne State campus community. For more than seven decades, Harris has maintained strong ties to Wayne State University. He is a charter member of the Wayne State University Foundation Board and its nominating committee; a founding member of the Anthony Wayne Society, the University's highest donor recognition group; and a member of the Wayne State University Alumni Association. Harris will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for his lifelong commitment to Wayne State.

As Detroit's poet laureate, Madgett's voice has resonated in the city and beyond for more than half a century. Her love of the written word began during childhood in East Orange, N.J. and blossomed when she was in high school in St. Louis, Mo. She published her first book of poetry, Songs to a Phantom Nightingale, at age 17. After receiving a bachelor of arts from Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) in 1945, she moved to Detroit and earned her master's in education at Wayne University in 1955. In the early 1970s, while also a professor at Eastern Michigan University, Madgett established Lotus Press, a publishing company that gives voice to African American poetry. Madgett's work has been celebrated in numerous journals and included in nearly 200 anthologies in both the United States and Europe. Her 1988 collection, Octavia and Other Poems, is required reading in many Detroit high schools and was a co-winner of the College Language Association's Creative Achievement Award. In recognition of her distinguished contributions to poetry and education, Madgett will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Thompson will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for his commitment to Detroit's youth. He was born and raised on a farm in Southeast Michigan and earned a degree in education from Bowling Green State University. Thompson started his contract road paving company with a $3,500 loan in 1959 and sold it for more than $420 million 40 years later. Thompson has since distributed his fortune in support of education in Detroit and beyond. His charitable organization, the Thompson Foundation, launched University Preparatory Academy, a family of Detroit charter middle and high schools that provide a rigorous, tuition-free education to the city's residents; and the Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies. These schools have made a commitment to graduate 90 percent of their students and send 90 percent of those graduates to college.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution of higher education offering more than 400 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 32,000 students.

 

Friday, May 6
Ceremony IV:
10 a.m. School of Business Administration
College of Engineering
Ceremony V:
2 p.m. College of Education
College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts

Monday, May 16
5 p.m. Law School Commencement Ceremony

Please note: Ed.D. candidates participate in the College of Education ceremony. All other doctoral candidates, including Ph.D. candidates, participate in their school/college ceremony.
*College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Ceremony II: Degrees offered by the following departments and programs: Africana Studies; American Studies; Anthropology; Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures; Economics; English; History; Industrial Relations; Interdisciplinary Studies; Labor Studies; Linguistics; Philosophy; Political Science; Sociology; and Urban Studies and Planning.
**College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Ceremony III: Degrees offered by the following departments and programs: Biological Sciences; Chemistry; Communications Sciences and Disorders; Computer Science; Criminal Justice; Environmental Science; Geology; Mathematics; Multidisciplinary Science; Nutrition and Food Science; Physics and Astronomy; and Psychology.