The Elm Student Newspaper
W.C. students honored along with Heyman, Seaborg at Convocation
Volume 69, Issue 1
September 5, 1997
Two of America's preeminent thinkers were honored during Washington College's Fall Convocation on Thursday, September 4th.
Smithsonian Institution Secretary Michael Heyman, delivered the convocation address and was the recipient of the honorary Doctor of Law degree. As Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution since 1994, Heyman heads a complex of 16 museums and galleries and the National Zoological Park, as well as many scientific and cultural research facilities.
He served as chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley from 1980 to 1990. He began his career at Berkeley in 1959 and became a full professor of law in 1961. His teaching career has included service as a visiting professor of law at Yale (1963-64) and at Stanford (1971-1972).
Heyman worked in Berkeley's biosciences departments and promoted ethnic diversification of the undergraduate student body while retaining high academic standards.
Heyman was educated at Dartmouth College where he worked to earn his juris doctor degree from Yale University Law School in 1956. He was an associate with the firm of Carter, Ledyard and Milburt in New York City and served as chief law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren from 1958 to 1959.
Glenn Seaborg, Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, was the recipient of the honorary Doctor of Science degree.
Seaborg is one of the discoverers of plutonium (element 94) and a former chair of the Atomic Energy Commission. He was one of the winners of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the chemistry of the transuranium elements. During World War II he headed the group at the University of Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory which contributed to the Manhattan Project. His name has been chosen for Element 106, now to be called "Seaborgium."
He holds 43 patents on chemical processes, including those on the synthesis and identification of americium and curium, making him the only person ever to hold a patent on a chemical element. He has also written several books on his work.
He has been a member of the chemistry faculty at Berkeley since 1937. As longtime chairman of the Chemical Education Material Study he led curricular reform in high school chemistry. As president of Science Service, part of the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, he has inspired bright high school scientists for nearly 30 years.
Actor Larry Hagman, along with his family, presented the first Mary Martin Drama Award, in honor of his mother, well-known leading lady of musical theatre who died in 1976. Mary Martin's grandson, Matthew Weir, graduated from Washington College in 1990. The award was presented to senior Mary Hoffman. Larry Hagman is best known for his role as J.R. in the long-running television series, "Dallas."
The College also recognized students receiving special academic awards. The awards for students holding the highest GPA in their class were as follows: class of '00, Christy Peters, Josh Rosenstein, and Megan Kilby; class of '99, Iyanka Karunaratne, Amal Aafif, and Carl Johan Nordberg; class of '98 Abby Robbins. The recipients of the Interfraternity-Panhellenic Council Awards for highest cumulative GPA were Zeta Tau Alpha and Theta Chi.
Members of W.C.'s 1997 NCAA Division III championship tennis team and the 1997 runners-up for the national championship men's lacrosse title were honored for their athletic achievements in the past year.
Each team member presented their trophy to President Toll to be placed on display in the Lifetime Fitness Center.