Commencement Speaker — Honorary Doctor of Humanities
Fareed Zakaria
Fareed Zakaria was named editor of Newsweek International in October 2000, overseeing all Newsweek’s editions abroad. The magazine reaches an audience of 24 million worldwide. He also writes a regular column for Newsweek, which also appears in Newsweek International and fortnightly in The Washington Post. Starting this year, he will host a new foreign affairs show on CNN Worldwide.
Honorary Doctor of Humanities
James McBride
James McBride ’79 is a bestselling author and musician. His memoir, The Color of Water, is An American classic and required reading in high schools and colleges across America.
Honorary Doctor of Humanities
Gayatri Spivak
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is University Professor and Director of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University, where she teaches Literature and the Politics of Culture.
Honorary Doctor of Science
Stuart Card
Stuart Card ’66 is a senior research fellow at the Palo Alto Research Center who is currently developing a supporting science of human-information interaction and visual-semantic prototypes to aid sensemaking.
Honorary Doctor of Humanities
Charlene Drew Jarvis
Charlene Drew Jarvis ’62 is a native of Washington, D.C., a former elected official, a scientist, and the ninth president of Southeastern University. Appointed in 1996, she is the first woman to hold that position.
Distinguished Service Award
Jaquita (Jaqui) Robinson Willis
Jaquita (Jaqui) Robinson Willis is this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. Over the past 30 years, Jaqui has participated as a volunteer in a remarkable array of community organizations and has worked on countless ad hoc committees. She also has devoted special attention to Oberlin youth and the economically needy in the community.
Alumni Medal Recipient
Carl Read Gerber
Carl Read Gerber ’58 is this year’s recipient of the Oberlin College Alumni Medal, awarded in recognition of outstanding service to the College.