Zackie Achmat, doctor of humane letters. Founder and former chairman of South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign, which responds to the AIDS crisis; anti-apartheid activist; founder of the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality; director of the Centre for Law & Social Justice in Cape Town
Joshua M. Epstein ’76, doctor of science. A pioneer in the use of computer-generated “artificial societies” to study contagious disease, violence and economic dynamics; director of the Center on Social and Economic Dynamics and a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution
 Faculty Marshal Rowland Abiodun presents honorary degree recipient Paul Nurse with a ceremonial hood. |
Walter Dean Myers, doctor of letters. Prolific and influential author of books for children and young adults, including, most recently, the novel Riot, about the New York draft riots of 1863
Paul Nurse, doctor of science. A geneticist, won a 2001 Nobel Prize for identifying key genes that regulate the reproductive cycles of cells in yeasts and humans; president of Rockefeller University
Harvey J. Rosenfield ’74, doctor of humane letters. Attorney and founder of Consumer Watchdog, a California-based nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer protection organization
Mary Jo Salter, doctor of letters. Award-winning poet, co-editor of The Norton Anthology of Poetry; director of graduate studies at The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University
Marjorie Scardino, doctor of laws. Became the United Kingdom’s first female chief executive of a top-100 company in 1997, when appointed CEO of the education and media company Pearson
Jimmy Wales, doctor of humane letters. Founded Wikipedia, which is written and edited collaboratively online by thousands of volunteers and is now the world’s largest encyclopedia
Christine Noyer Seaver ’81, Medal for Eminent Service. President of her class and co-chair of the Annual Fund, she is a longtime and active Amherst volunteer.
Phil Hockensmith (Kickapoo High School, Springfield, Mo.), Paula Mark (Hialeah High School, Hialeah, Fla.) and Paul Tierney (The Shipley School, Bryn Mawr, Pa.), Swift Moore Teaching Awards, awarded to secondary school teachers nominated by members of the graduating class