Five Distinguished Individuals Receive Honorary Degrees

During New York University’s 174th Commencement, President John Sexton will present honorary degrees tofive distinguished individuals. Following are the citations that will be read during the ceremony:

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Mikhail Baryshnikov—the world’s greatest living dancer, you began the study of ballet in Riga at age nine and as a teenager entered the school of the Kirov Ballet—a precocious talent, a dancer of classical purity and exquisite presence. As artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre, you nurtured a new generation of dancers and choreographers. You have danced more than one hundred different works on the world’s greatest stages even as its foremost choreographers have created works especially for you. An acclaimed actor, you have starred in five films, including The Turning Point, in three Emmy Award-winning specials on television, on Broadway in “Metamorphosis”—and of course— as Aleksandr Petrovsky in Sex and the City! You have said that what you like most is to be part of something which moves the history of theater or dance forward. Such was your White Oak Dance Project, where you expanded the repertoire of American modern dance. And such is the magnificent Baryshnikov Arts Center, where you have given artists both a home and a creative laboratory in which to work with mentors of dance, theater, film, lighting, and costume design, and where you have established, with the Tisch School of the Arts, a fellowship program for recent graduates.

Mikhail Baryshnikov—a global artist of virtuosity and genius, you and your center are a powerful cultural catalyst to ensure New York City’s preeminence in the arts. By virtue of the authority vested in me by New York University, I am pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa.

Anthony M. Kennedy

Anthony M. Kennedy—confirmed as associate justice of the United States Supreme Court by a unanimous vote of the Senate in 1988, you have emerged as a pivotal figure in a deeply divided court grappling with the momentous issues of the day. Your significant opinions in landmark decisions have embraced the rights of personal freedom and the importance of self-government and democracy, including in the states and local governments of the United States. Active in our own nation’s bar associations, you engage with scholars around the world as a leading figure in international law. Your path to the highest court led from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where, at age thirty-eight, you were appointed the youngest federal appeals judge in the country. A teacher at heart with a passion for ideas, you have graciously and often participated in colloquia at our own School of Law. Through the “Dialogue on Freedom” initiative of the American Bar Association, you have reached out to high school students and fostered dialogue about American values and civic traditions. Your emphasis on the importance of civility in public life, in an age marked by divisive partisanship, and your insistence on the dignity of all individuals, have been hallmarks of your jurisprudence.

Anthony M. Kennedy—your openness of mind has attracted adherents to your opinions even as your utter lack of pretentiousness has earned you the esteem of your clerks. By virtue of the authority vested in me by New York University, I am pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

Anne Marie Mulcahy

Anne Marie Mulcahy—chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Xerox Corporation, you are the first woman in your company’s history to serve at its helm, beginning as a sales representative in 1976 and rising steadily through the ranks. Becoming CEO in August 2001, of a then declining and dispirited company, you logged 100,000 miles visiting Xerox employees in your first year and ordered a bold restructuring that put your company on an upward trajectory. By July 2002, you had restored the prestige and profitability of Xerox—one of the swiftest and most decisive turnarounds in recent business history. You accomplished this while maintaining an organization-wide focus on innovation, taking not a single dollar out of research and development. You have introduced new products and services that offer customers higher productivity at a lower cost and created a new Xerox with stable management and stronger customer focus. Attentive, decisive, eager to learn, you have driven exceptional results through your profound commitment to understand and meet customers’ needs while developing and nurturing a motivated and proud workforce—all the while listening carefully to these constituencies. A graduate of Marymount College, you are widely admired not only in your own company, but throughout the business world.

Anne Marie Mulcahy—with integrity of style and consistency of character, you have achieved extraordinary success for your company while serving as a model of corporate leadership. By virtue of the authority vested in me by New York University, I am pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Commercial Science, honoris causa.

Alain Robbe-Grillet

Alain Robbe-Grillet—trailblazer of the avant-garde, you have been at the forefront of French writers of the past fifty years and the leading figure in the movement known as Nouveau Roman. Prolific writer of novels, short stories, and books of criticism, you have been hailed as the most important French novelist since Sartre and Camus. Equally at home in other media, you have written and directed nearly a dozen films, including your most celebrated, the renowned classic: Last Year in Marienbad. Your theories of perceiving reality were described by fellow writer John Updike as the most ambitious aesthetic program since Surrealism. On the threshold of your 80th birthday, you returned with astonishing vigor to the novel, giving us Repetition—not only your most humorous book but also one yielding great intellectual pleasure. For nearly a quarter century, you were visiting professor of French at NYU, bringing great distinction to our Department of French, even as you have long been a strong, faithful, and active supporter of our programs in France. You were awarded the Medal of Honor of our Center for French Civilization and Culture, and you are one of the 40 “immortals” of French Letters of the Académie Française, the most distinguished and exclusive intellectual institution in France.

Alain Robbe-Grillet—preeminent novelist and filmmaker—you are one of the world’s most influential and highly revered thinkers and writers. By virtue of the authority vested in me by New York University, I am pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.


Wilma Stein Tisch

Wilma Stein Tisch—devoted New Yorker and civic leader, you are a woman of immense warmth and indomitable spirit. The cherished wife of our esteemed late chairman, Laurence A. Tisch, you have graced our lives with your presence and guidance over many memorable years. You and your family have made possible initiatives that are among the most enterprising and dynamic in our history, giving shape to the NYU we see before us today: a vibrant, world-class center of teaching and research thriving in the heart of New York City. The first woman elected president of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, you have also exercised major responsibilities as trustee of the United Way of New York City, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the September 11th Fund. A strong and vibrant advocate of public radio, you are chair emerita of WNYC Radio, and you served on the Mayor’s Transition Advisory Council of New York City. You are a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and you count among your many distinctions an honorary degree from your own beloved alma mater—Skidmore College.

Wilma Stein Tisch—for extraordinary leadership and generosity across an array of civic and philanthropic endeavors, you are admired by your fellow New Yorkers and beloved by your family at NYU. By virtue of the authority vested in me by New York University, I am pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.