President Gregorian to receive Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal

President Vartan Gregorian will receive the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal, the highest honor Brown's faculty can bestow, at the University's 229th Commencement in May. Gregorian will be the 21st recipient since 1919, when the Rosenberger Medal was established.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- At its meeting March 4, 1997, the faculty of Brown University voted by acclamation to confer the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal on President Vartan Gregorian. Gregorian will receive the medal during Brown's 229th Commencement on May 26, 1997. The Rosenberger is the highest honor the Brown faculty can bestow.

Established in 1919 by Jesse L. Rosenberger as a memorial to his wife, the award is given by the faculty from time to time in recognition of "specially notable or beneficial achievement." Gregorian will be the 21st recipient, following Charles Evans Hughes (1928), John D. Rockefeller Jr. (1931), Zechariah Chafee Jr. (1947), Theodore Francis Green (1956), Thomas J. Watson Jr. (1968), Richard Salomon (1982), Charles Tillinghast Jr. (1982), Otto Neugebauer (1987) and Roderick Chisholm (1992), among others. Only two Brown presidents have received the honor: Henry Merritt Wriston (1976) and Howard R. Swearer (1983).

Gregorian, who customarily presides at faculty meetings, was asked by William Wyatt, chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, to leave Tuesday's meeting for a time. A resolution awarding him the Rosenberger Medal was introduced, seconded and passed unanimously by acclamation. Gregorian returned, was congratulated on the honor and received a standing ovation.

Obviously moved, Gregorian said that receiving such a prestigious award from faculty colleagues was a uniquely gratifying honor for someone who has spent his entire professional life serving institutions of higher learning.