Earning degrees at the commencement ceremony in May will be three people who did not expect to be among the Class of 2003.

Dr. George W. Campbell Jr., Helen Boatwright and William F. Walsh will be awarded honorary doctoral degrees from Syracuse University during the May 11 ceremony in the Carrier Dome.

Campbell, the president of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, already has a Ph.D. in physics from SU but said he is deeply moved and surprised he would be considered for the honor.

“What I always say at our commencement at Cooper is that an honorary doctorate is the highest honor an academic institution confers because there are far fewer honorary doctorates than earned doctorates awarded each year,” he said. “At least here it means the person has made a major contribution to academic society over a career.”

The criteria of a distinguished career, Campbell said, is also what SU looks at.

Each year, the university community has an opportunity to nominate candidates for the degree. The candidates are then examined by a board that contains faculty and students, who then pass along their choices to the university senate for approval, said Judy O’Rourke, the co-chairperson of the selection committee. The committee looks at several criteria including outstanding lifetime achievements and a career that benefited others, O’Rourke said.

The committee also looks at any links the person may have to SU. These links, however, are not necessary for someone to receive the honor, she said.

Campbell’s career accomplishments include serving as president and CEO of the the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc., the first black president of Cooper and a trustee at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

“I am moved partly because it is from one of my own institutions,” he said. “It is recognition by those who inspired me in the first place, with those who I have had experience.”

Another degree recipient does not have Campbell’s experience as a student at SU but rather her own experience as a professor in the School of Music for more than 30 years. Besides being a teacher, Boatwright, who will receive an honorary doctorate of music, has given vocal performances for such dignitaries as the Queen Mother of England. She came to SU following her husband, composer and violinist Howard Boatwright, after he accepted the job as dean of the School of Music.

“I would not have been able to come here with my husband had we not had such a wonderful musical career,” she said.

The third recipient, Walsh, has experience as a pupil in the SU classroom. He earned a Ph.D. in psychology before pursuing a career in politics. Walsh served two terms as mayor of Syracuse and then moved on to serve three terms in the U.S. Congress until his retirement in 1980. His son James now fills that same congressional seat.

Walsh could not be reached for comment.

All three honorary degree recipients will serve as a model for the graduating students on commencement day, said O’Rourke, the vice president for undergraduate studies.

“Almost every institution gives honorary degrees as a way of honoring those we think of as outstanding as a way of leaving the graduating students with the idea of doing something great in their lives as they head out into the world,” O’Rourke said.

Published on April 22, 2003 at 12:00 pm