Rendell, Marsalis to receive degrees

The former mayor and the jazz great will join four others receiving honorary degrees at commencement. In recognition of contributions to fields including the humanities, music, politics and the sciences, the University will award honorary degrees to six distinguished men and women during this year's Commencement ceremony, University President Judith Rodin announced yesterday. Former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, who has been a visiting professor at the University this semester while working as general chairman of the Democratic National Committee, will accept one of the honorary degrees. The degree is Rendell's second from Penn -- he graduated from the College in 1965. Other recipients include jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, physicist John Bahcall, anthropologist Mary Douglas, law professor Ronald Dworkin and poet Seamus Heaney, a Nobel Laureate who will give the main Commencement address. Rendell, a Penn basketball fan and Political Science lecturer is credited with having steered Philadelphia away from fiscal disaster during his two terms as mayor. Rendell will be joined by Marsalis, a nine-time Grammy Award winner for his trumpet playing and the artistic director of the jazz section at New York's Lincoln Center. Marsalis is famous not only for his legendary technical abilities on the horn, but also for his widespread influence on modern jazz. Bahcall is the Richard Black Professor of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. Specializing in astrophysics, Bahcall is best known for his work on neutrinos and is a recipient of the National Medal of Science. Douglas is a retired professor of Social Anthropology at London University and Professor Emeritus of Humanities at Northwestern University. Douglas, who has studied the Lele people of Central Africa, is lauded for her study of the way in which humans form classification systems, especially with regard to food. Dworkin, the Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London and Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University, will receive a degree in recognition of his scholarly contributions to the understanding of constitutional law. Heaney will deliver the University's 244th Commencement address. He is the 1995 recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature and was awarded Britain's Whitbread award for his recent translation of Beowulf. Commencement will be held May 22 on Franklin Field.

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