Dear Tulane Community:
Comedy, music, mystery, courtroom drama and philosophy – Commencement 2015 has it all! In addition to the excitement of welcoming keynote speaker Maya Rudolph to Commencement 2015, Tulane will also award honorary degrees to three acclaimed and extraordinary people who have made lasting contributions in helping us better understand the world and improve the human condition. This year's honorary degree recipients are:
Hein Kötz, a former appellate court judge and former director of the Max Planck Institute of Comparative Law and International Private Law. Kötz was also a member of the Federal Commission on the Reform of German Contract Law, president of the International Association of Legal Science, a member of the board of directors for the German Association of Comparative Law and founding dean of Hamburg's Bucerius Law School. He has authored approximately 150 law review articles and three books.
Onora O'Neill, a philosopher, member of the House of Lords and chair of the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission. O'Neill was also principal of Newnham College, Cambridge. She was president of the British Academy and the UK National Academy for Humanities and Social Sciences. She has served on the House of Lords Select Committees on Stem Cell Research, BBC Charter Review, Genomic Medicine and Nanotechnology, and Food and Behavioural Change. She has written numerous books, including Rethinking Informed Consent in Bioethics with Neil Manson and Acting on Principle.
Walter Mosley, an author of more than 40 critically acclaimed books, including the bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins. His work includes literary fiction, science fiction, political monographs and a young adult novel. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine and The Nation, among other publications. Two of his books have been made into the movies Devil in A Blue Dress and Always Outnumbered. Mosley has won numerous awards, including the O. Henry Award, the Anisfield Wolf Award, NAACP Image Award, the "Risktaker Award" from the Sundance Institute and a Grammy.
Commencement 2015 will also feature a colorful and brilliant academic procession complete with herald trumpets, live jazz performances by Topsy Chapman and Dr. Michael White's Original Liberty Jazz Band, confetti cannons and a traditional New Orleans second-line procession.
Now, that's what I call a celebration worthy of the class of 2015!
