Degree recognizes contributions to academia and society
ATHENS -- President Marty Meehan's service in government and in higher education will be formally recognized when the American College of Greece holds its commencement exercises tomorrow in Athens.
President Meehan will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of his "significant accomplishments and contributions to academia and society."
"Your life and work reflect values that the College strives to inculcate in its students," American College of Greece President David G. Horner noted.
President Meehan will address the college's 350 graduates.
Founded in 1875 by Boston missionaries in Asia Minor, the American College of Greece is the oldest and largest U.S-accredited college or university in Europe, and the largest private college in Greece.
Previous honorary degree recipients include U.S. Senators George Mitchell, Paul Sarbanes, Olympia Snowe and the late Paul Tsongas; U.S. ambassadors including the late Richard Holbrooke and R. Nicholas Burns, and academic leaders including former Harvard University President Derek Bok, former Brown University President Ruth Simmons and former University of Chicago President Hanna Gray.
"I'm deeply grateful to be receiving this honor," President Meehan said. "To receive this recognition from the American College of Greece and for this to occur in Athens makes it all the more poignant."
"Our democratic ideals and so much of what we regard as the very best in the arts, culture, in science and in many other intellectual and humanistic areas have their roots here. So, I am very grateful," President Meehan said.
President Meehan, who graduated cum laude from UMass Lowell in 1978 with a degree in education and political science, is the first undergraduate alumnus to lead the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. He became the university's 27th president on July 1, 2015, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as chancellor of UMass Lowell. He earned a master's degree in public administration from Suffolk University in 1981 and a juris doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1986.
President Meehan's commencement travel expenses were privately funded.
Contact: Colin P. Murphy, 617-287-4079