Former VP Al Gore to Receive Honorary Doctorate from UT Knoxville
Monday March 01, 2010
Al Gore will be honored by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville...
Former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore will be honored by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with only the third honorary degree granted by the campus. The degree was approved by the UT Board of Trustees.
Gore will receive the degree, an Honorary Doctor of Laws and Humane Letters in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, at the spring commencement exercises of the College of Arts and Sciences on May 14. He will be the featured speaker at the ceremony, addressing graduates and their families along with the gathered faculty.
"Vice President Gore's career has been marked by visionary leadership, and his work has quite literally changed our planet for the better," said UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek. "He is among the most accomplished and respected Tennesseans in history, and it is fitting that he should be honored by the flagship education institution of his home state."
Gore's appreciation and personal interest in the institution of higher education is apparent as he serves as faculty member/visiting professor at various institutions across the country. A UT Knoxville faculty member holds the Nancy Gore Hunger Chair for Excellence in Environmental Studies, endowed by Gore to honor his late sister. Gore also is a distinguished member of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy's board of directors and honorary co-chair of the Tennessee 4-H Club Foundation Inc. with UT Extension.
Gore will join entertainer and philanthropist Dolly Parton and former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. as the only recipients of honorary degrees from UT Knoxville.
Source: University of Tennessee, Knoxville
