Honorary doctorate Oberlin College for Thomas Ebbesen

On Monday 25 May 2015, Professor Thomas Ebbesen, Director of the Strasbourg University Institute for Advanced Study (USIAS), has received an honorary Doctorate of Science of Oberlin College.

The honorary doctorates were presented during the Commencement ceremony at which First Lady Michelle Obama addressed the graduating class. Mrs. Obama received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities.

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the Commencement address presented in June 1965, by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His address was entitled "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution," receiving an Honorary Doctorate, in Humane Letters.

Oberlin College was the first college in America to adopt a policy to admit African American students, as well as the first co-ed school to grant bachelor’s degrees to women.

Also speaking at the ceremony was Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, who also received an Honorary Doctor of Humanities. Other laureates were: Jeremy Denk, Honorary Doctor of Music; Robert Jervis, Honorary Doctor of Humanities; Robert Kuttner, Honorary Doctor of Letters and Allison Vulgamore, Honorary Doctor of Music