May 11, 2000

SMU NAMES HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENTS FOR 2000

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Ernesto Cortés, Jr. (2.01MB)	Larry Faulkner (727K)	Gustavo Gutiérrez (3.09 MB)	Nancy Hamon (1.56 MB)

DALLAS (SMU) — Southern Methodist University will confer four honorary degrees during its 85th annual commencement ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 20, in Moody Coliseum, 6024 Airline Road.

This year’s honorary degree recipients are civic activist Ernesto Cortés Jr., Doctor of Laws; chemist, educator and University of Texas President Larry Faulkner, Doctor of Science; Peruvian priest and liberation theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez, Doctor of Divinity; and philanthropist and civic leader Nancy Lee Blackburn Hamon, Doctor of Arts.

The university also will award an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey, in a special service at Perkins Chapel May 11.

The university will host symposiums to honor the achievements of Ernesto Cortés and Gustavo Gutiérrez. The symposiums are free and open to the public.

"Speaking Truth to Power: A Symposium on the Achievements of Ernesto Cortés" will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, May 19, in the Walsh Classroom in the Underwood Law Library, 6550 Hillcrest Ave. An afternoon tea with Cortés, hosted by Dedman College Dean Jasper Neel and the SMU Chaplain’s office, will follow the symposium in the lobby area of Underwood Law Library. This symposium is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Department of Political Science, the Ethnic Studies Program and the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies.

Panelists at the Cortés symposium include Tom Luce, Dallas attorney and 2012 Olympic Bid Committee chair; The Rev. Minerva Carcaño, director of the Mexican American Program at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology; Mary Beth Rogers, Austin public television station president and author who wrote a book about Cortés titled Cold Anger, A Story of Faith and Power Politics; and William Julius Wilson, a Harvard sociologist who wrote The Declining Significance of Race and The Bridge over the Racial Divide.

A research symposium featuring Gustavo Gutiérrez titled "Where Will the Poor Sleep in the 21st Century?" will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 18, in Perkins Chapel, 6001 Bishop Blvd. Father Gutiérrez will respond to papers presented by four leading liberation theologians from different perspectives: Latino, African-American, Asian and Euro-American. Panelists at this symposium include Roberto S. Goizueta of Boston College; Dwight N. Hopkins of the University of Chicago; Kwok Pul Lan of the Episcopal Divinity School and Joerg Rieger of Perkins School of Theology.

"The Power of the Poor: A Symposium on the Life and Work of Gustavo Gutiérrez" will be from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 19, in Perkins Chapel. Panelists from the research symposium will comment on the impact of Gutiérrez’ life and work. After the symposium, Perkins School of Theology Dean Robin Lovin will host a reception with Gutiérrez in the Bridwell Library, 6005 Bishop Blvd.

Ernesto Cortés Jr. has contributed to the political empowerment of low-income and disadvantaged people as a grass-roots community activist and labor organizer.

He is founder of Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) and is the Southwest Regional Director of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), a non-profit organization that networks community-based organizations committed to revitalizing local democracies. He supports helping ordinary people develop the competence, confidence and leadership to participate in the affairs of their local governments.

Larry Faulkner was named the 27th president of The University of Texas, the nation’s largest university, in April 1998, having served formerly as provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and as chemistry professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Faulkner taught chemistry at Harvard University, the University of Illinois and the University of Texas at Austin and has published more than 120 scientific papers. He has received numerous awards, including the American Chemical Society’s Award in Analytical Chemistry and the U.S. Department of Energy Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Materials Chemistry in 1986. Faulkner was recognized for more than 30 years of research in electrochemistry and analytical chemistry by the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry as the 1998 recipient of the Charles N. Reilly Award.

Catholic priest Gustavo Gutiérrez is known as the father of liberation theology, one of the most influential movements in contemporary theology. His work, Teologîa de la Liberacion: Prospectivos, remapped contemporary understanding of the crucial roles that institutional churches can and should play in resisting the oppression of the poor.

Born in Lima, Peru, in 1928, Gutiérrez grew up among the poor. After studying in both Rome and France, he returned to Peru to teach at the University of Lima but chose to live in the slums of the city rather than the more comfortable neighborhood surrounding the university. His work has made a profound impact on the understanding of the connections between freedom and religious beliefs and has provided a firm intellectual grounding for modern "liberation" movements.

Nancy Lee Blackburn Hamon of Dallas is civic leader, arts patron and philanthropist. Her dedication to the arts and activities in cultural and civic organizations range from Dallas to the international level. Through her generosity and imagination, she has fostered and transformed cultural institutions including the Dallas Museum of Art and SMU’s own Hamon Arts Library.

She was awarded the TACA-James K. Wilson Silver Cup Award in 1990, the Flora Award in 1992 and the prestigious Linz Award in 1994 for her many philanthropic efforts.

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Click here to read about Commencement 2000

Click here to read more about Ernesto Cortés Jr.

Click here to read more about Larry Faulkner

Click here to read more about Gustavo Gutiérrez

Click here to read more about Nancy Lee Blackburn Hamon