Honorary Degree
| 2000 | Richard Small '50 |
| 2003 | David R. Hansen |
| 2003 | John Mark Dean |
| John Mark's response | |
Honorary DegreeDoctor of Science
John Mark Dean
citation as read
October 16, 2003
Mount Vernon, Iowa
John Mark Dean: marine scientist, conservationist, public servant, distinguished professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina, and outstanding alumnus of Cornell College. Today we honor you as one who has exemplified our highest ideals in applying your liberal arts perspective to the study and teaching of aquatic ecology. Your service to numerous organizations has helped shape policies for developing natural resources at the domestic and international levels. Among the forms of marine life you have researched and aimed to protect are the loggerhead turtle, striped bass, marlin, shrimp, swordfish, and tuna.
Dr. Dean, in 1958, you earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Cornell College, where you recall being "shaped, molded, and pushed" in particular by Dr. Ed Rogers. Next came master's and doctoral degrees in aquatic ecology from Purdue University, followed by postdoctoral work at the Duke University Marine Laboratory. For seven years you conducted research for General
Electric and the Battelle Memorial Institute at Richland, Washington, focusing on stream pollution and the aquatic ecology of the Columbia River. Then in 1970 you joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina and helped establish the Baruch Institute and the Marine Science Program that are so well known today. Your research has emphasized the age and growth of recreationally and commercially important fish in fresh water, estuarine, and
oceanic ecosystems, as well as environmental resource policy and
management. A hallmark of your teaching is interfacing with disciplines ranging from politics to economics, literature, ancient history, language, and the arts. Your excitement in discovery, your openness to new opportunities, and your drive to make science relevant have brought you many teaching honors, including the University of South Carolina's 1992 Golden Key Faculty Award for
Creative Integration of Research in Undergraduate Teaching, and the South Carolina Wildlife Federation 1996 Conservation Educator of the Year award.
Furthermore, you have extended your marine research by publishing dozens of scholarly articles and consulting with international colleagues on fish ecology, fishery resources, and habitat utilization. Upon your retirement from the University of South Carolina
In 2002, your former students established the John Mark Dean Chair in Science and Ocean Policy in the Baruch Institute, where you continue to serve as a Senior Fellow. You and your students are currently studying the ecology of tuna and swordfish in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, collaborating with colleagues in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Greece, and Turkey.
Your service on numerous natural resource advisory groups has brought a unique perspective to policy makers and to your students, whom you have guided by example into service roles. You served four terms on the U.S. Advisory Committee of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. Your other policy advisory involvements include the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, the National Marine Fisheries Service Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel, and the National Academy of Science's Committee on Technology and Marine Habitats and its Committee to Identify High-Priority Science to Meet National Coastal Needs. Last year the South Carolina Chapter of the American Fisheries Society named you Fishery Conservationist of the Year.
John Mark Dean, you are esteemed among your peers. Your alma mater is proud to recognize your many enduring contributions to your students, to science and conservation, and to the future of international marine life. It is our privilege and our pleasure to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
Leslie H. Garner Jr. Gilbert X. Drendel Jr.
President of Cornell College Chair, Board of Trustees
Honorary Degree
Doctor of Laws
David R. Hansen
David R. Hansen received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Cornell College on April 24, 2003. Hansen has served on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since 1991, when he was appointed by President George Bush. In 2002 he became only the second Iowan selected as chief judge and held that position until March 31, when he took senior status, a semiretirement. The 8th Circuit includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas. The court, based in St. Louis, hears appeals of decisions made in the federal courts in those states. There are 11 active judges on the court.
Hansen's first judicial appointment was as police court judge in Iowa Falls, from 1969 to 1973. After six years in private practice, he was appointed to the Iowa District Court bench in 1976, to the U.S. District Court for Iowa's Northern District by President Reagan in 1986 and then to the appeals court. He has written more than 2,550 decisions, including a major decision interpreting the constitutionality of the Telecommunications Act, which then was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Hansen is a nationally known authority on issues surrounding the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act and the Habeas Corpus Reform Act.
His service to Cornell includes lecturing in politics department classes and participating on interview practice panels to prepare students nominated for Truman Scholarships. He is scheduled to teach a course, "Current Cases Before the Supreme Court," with politics professor Robert Sutherland in November.
Hansen earned a law degree with honors from George Washington University in 1963, then served as a captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps and received an Army Commendation Medal. He and his wife, Ginger, live in Mount Vernon. They have two sons, James and Robert J. Hansen '02.
Honorary Degree
Doctor of Humanities
Richard Small '50
Richard Small '50 received the honorary degree Dr. of Humanities from Cornell College on Sept. 30, 2000. Upon graduation in 1950, Richard Small built a successful oil-marketing business, Cheker Oil Company, which grew from a lease on an abandoned gas station to a network of several hundred service stations and diversified holdings in 18 states. In 1984 he began a new career as chairman and majority stockholder of Tri-Star Aerospace Incorporated. He also gave leadership to the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers and the Midwest Petroleum Marketers Association and served as a director of several banks.
His commitment to community betterment is evident in years of service to the Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America, the American Cancer Society, St. James Hospital, the Chicago Conference for Brotherhood, and the Chicago Petroleum Council's City of Hope project. He served as a village trustee of Olympia Fields, Ill., from 1973 to 1981. His selection as a Governor of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame reflects his enduring interest in sports stimulated by his achievement as a conference wrestling champion.
A lifelong member of the United Methodist Church, he has led various local church agencies concerned with the role and status of women, religion and race, and interreligious understanding and cooperation. He and his wife, Norma, were honored as Outstanding Leaders for Higher Education by the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church. He serves on the Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation Board of Trustees. Next month Small will receive the prestigious Kresge Award, given annually by the United Methodist Foundation for Christian Higher Education for outstanding leadership and support to Methodist-related education. His conviction that the mission of the college and the mission of the church are closely allied led Small to initiate and endow an annual lectureship, "Dreams of Peace, Visions of the Future" which links the Cornell with St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids.
Small's leadership and philanthropy have made a profound difference on the Hilltop. He served on the Cornell Board of Trustees from 1971 to 1981 and from 1986 to 1999, chairing the board from 1993 to 1996. While he prefers to build the endowment, he and Norma have stepped forward with lead gifts for numerous capital needs. Their challenge gift for the $60 million Program for Cornell enabled the campaign to succeed. They provided Cornell's first endowed faculty chair. Over the years their generosity has played a large role in the renovations of College, South, Law, Bowman-Carter, and Merner halls, as well as Cole Library and the Richard and Norma Small Life Sports Center.
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