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Nanette Shaw
Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs
PRESS CONTACT:
David Manning
212. 817.7177 or 7170
dmanning@gc.cuny.edu
May 2001
for IMMEDIATE release
CUNY Graduate Center Commencement on June 6
Joseph Wittreich, Milton Scholar, to Speak
Comden and Green Team Will Receive Honorary Doctorate
Bells will be ringing for Betty Comden and Adolph Green when the Broadway lyrics/libretto team receives an honorary doctorate at the 2001 commencement of The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. The ceremony which features Distinguished Professor Joseph Wittreich as speaker will be held on Wednesday, June 6, beginning 11 a.m. at the Manhattan Center, 311 West 34th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues). Two hundred and fifty doctorates and 27 master's degrees will be awarded. In addition to the honorary Doctor of Musical Arts degrees presented to Comden and Green, United Way of New York Director Ralph Dickerson, Jr., realtor and philanthropist Douglas Durst, historian and educator Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, and poet John Hollander will all receive Doctor of Humane Letters degrees. Professor Emeritus and theater critic Edwin Wilson will receive The Graduate Centers Presidents Medal.
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Joseph Wittreich is Distinguished Professor in the Ph.D. Program in English at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is a leading expert on John Milton amd Romantic literature. His books include Angel of Apocalypse: Blake's Idea of Milton (1975); Visionary Poetics: Milton's Tradition and His Legacy (1979); "Image of that Horror": History, Prophecy, and Apocalypse in "King Lear" (1984); Interpreting "Samson Agonistes" (1986); and Feminist Milton (1987), and he has written dozens of articles, reviews, and monographs. He has been a Distinguished Professor with The Graduate Centers Ph.D. Program in English since his appointment in 1988, and he has also served as the programs Executive Officer.
Betty Comden and Adolph Green are librettists, lyricist, screenwriters, and actors. A revival of Bells Are Ringing, for which they first wrote the lyrics and book in 1956, is currently being staged on Broadway. They are known for the smart, urbane humor they have contributed to some of Broadways most famous shows and Hollywoods most celebrated films. Comden and Green wrote the book and lyrics for the Broadway musical On The Town, which opened in 1944, for which Leonard Bernstein wrote the music. They also wrote the screenplay for the 1952 film Singin in the Rain, starring Gene Kelly. Singin in the Rain has been recognized as one of the greatest Hollywood films of all time. Other shows and films to which Comden and Green contributed include: Good News (motion picture, 1947); Two on the Aisle (stage revue, 1951); Wonderful Town (Broadway musical, 1953); Applause (Broadway musical, 1970); and The Will Rogers Follies (Broadway musical, 1991). They have won numerous awards, including the 1991 Kennedy Center Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts, plus several Tonys. Betty Comden and Adolph Green have been collaborating since 1937, making theirs the longest-running creative partnership in Broadway history.
Douglas Durst is President of the Durst Organization, one of New York Citys major real estate concerns. Backed by three generations of family experience in New York real estate, he has helped transform the Citys skyline, from his initial work on Manhattans Upper West Side to more recent participation in the rebirth of Times Square. In addition, he is known for his contributions to philanthropic, cultural, and community efforts. An active environmentalist, he has been involved in environmentally responsible development and is part owner of the largest organic farm in New York State. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Graduate Center Foundation, Roundabout Theater, Primary Stages, The Landmarks Conservancy, The Real Estate Board of New York, The Municipal Art Society, and other organizations.
Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg is an historian, Torah scholar, and a leading theoretician of Zionist thought. He has taught at Dartmouth College, Columbia University and Rutgers University, as well as at a number of institutions in Europe and the Middle East. He is currently Bronfman Visiting Professor of the Humanities at New York University. He is also Rabbi Emeritus at Temple Emanu-El in Englewood, New Jersey, having been Rabbi there from 1956 to 1985. Rabbi Hertzberg is perhaps best known for his scholarly work on Jewish history, anti-Semitism, and Zionist intellectual history. His writings include: The French Enlightenment and the Jews (1968); Judaism (1961); The Jews in America (1989); Jewish Polemics (1992); and The Zionist Idea (1997).
Ralph Dickerson, Jr. is president of the United Way of New York City, a position he assumed in 1988. Under Dickersons tutelage, the United Way of New York Citys revenue has grown from $75.1 million to $120 million, making it the largest United Way in the nation. As president, he has transformed the organization into the largest private funder of health and human services in New York City. He has received numerous honors and awards from organizations such as the New York Urban Coalition, the Puerto Rican Family Institute, the Asian-American Federation of New York, and the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, among others. Dickerson received his MBA from the University of Wisconsin, where he was inducted into the Alpha Kappa Psi Honorary Business Fraternity.
John Hollander is a pre-eminent American poet who has written over sixteen volumes of poetry. He has also published several works of literary criticism and has edited numerous anthologies, including the Oxford Anthology of English Literature. Hollanders many honors include the Bollingen e, the Levinson Prize, and a MacArthur Fellowship. Rhyme's Reason won the Mina P. Shaughnessy Award from the Modern Language Association when it was first published. John Hollander is currently Sterling Professor of English at Yale University and is a former member of the faculty at the CUNY Graduate Center. His most recent book is Rhymes Reason: A Guide to English Verse (2001).
Edwin Wilson was the theatre critic of The Wall Street Journal for twenty-two years and is currently director of the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center, where he is also a professor emeritus. He has served as president of the New York Drama Critics Circle and was four times on the Tony nominating committee, most recently in the 1996-1997 season. He is on the boards of the John Golden Fund, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Theatre Development Fund, of which he was also president. Teacher, author, and critic, Edwin Wilson has worked in many aspects of the theatre. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale Drama School, as well as the first Doctor of Fine Arts Degree awarded by Yale. He has taught at Yale, Hofstra, Vanderbilt, and Hunter College, in addition to The Graduate Center.
The Graduate Center is the doctorate-granting institution of The City University of New York, the largest urban university in the U.S. The only consortium of its kind in the nation, The Graduate Center draws its faculty of more than 1,600 members mainly from the CUNY senior colleges and cultural and scientific institutions throughout New York City.
Established in 1961, The Graduate Center has grown to an enrollment of about 3,500 students in 32 doctoral programs and seven master's degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The Graduate Center also houses 30 research centers and institutes and administers the CUNY Baccalaureate Program.
According to a recent National Research Council report, more than a third of The Graduate Center's rated programs rank among the nation's top 20 at public and private institutions, nearly a quarter are among the top ten when compared to publicly supported institutions alone, and more than half are among the top five programs at publicly supported institutions in the northeast.
Further information on The Graduate Center's programs and activities can be found on its Web site at: www.gc.cuny.edu.
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