Anita Hill Speaking at MCLA Commencement
 Anita Hill
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Ceremonies begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 22, in the Amsler Campus Center Gymnasium.
Hill, a well-known commentator and professor of law at University of Oklahoma College of Law, will be presented with an honorary doctor of law degree. Also being honored at the ceremony will be former trustee Foster Devereux with a doctor of public service; Oscar-winning painter and Williamstown resident Stephen Hannock with a doctor of fine arts; and MCLA alumna and humanitarian Josetta Owen with a doctor of humanities.
Hill's career has taken many turns but she's probably best known for her testimony during the Senate hearings on Justice Clarence Thomas' appointment to the Supreme Cout. A professor of law at the time, she was thrust into the public spotlight in 1991 during those controversial Judiciary Committee appearance. After the hearing, she began speaking to audiences throughout the United States and internationally about social and political problems facing the world.
She received her juris doctorate from Yale Law School in 1980 and began her career in private practice in Washington, D.C., with a focus on banking law and litigation. She became an adviser to the assistant secretary of the U.S. Education Department and the chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 1989, Hill became the first African American to be tenured at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
Hill has written commentary for Time, Inc., Newsweek, The New York Times, The Boston Globe and Ms. Magazine and appears regularly on national television programs including ABC's "Good Morning America," "Meet the Press," NBC's "The Today Show," "The Tavis Smiley Show" and CNN's "Larry King Live."
She recently received the Ford Hall Forum's First Amendment Award for her promotion of gender and race equality. She is especially proud of receiving the Fletcher Fellowship for her work aimed at ending educational disparities among poor and minority students. That award was created in 2004 on the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education and is given to institutions and individuals working to fulfill the goals of that landmark decision.
Foster Devereux
Devereux was an officer and director of Allen & Co., a New York-based investment banking firm. He is a graduate of Williams College.
 Foster Devereux
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He is a trustee emeritus of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and of the Mass MoCA Cultural Development Commission. Through his work with Mass MoCA, Devereux was at the forefront of efforts to establish North Adams as a world-class cultural destination, and to position the arts as an economic development engine.
Devereux is a member of the Alumni Council of the Kent (Conn.) School. He is a former president of the Williams College Alumni Association of Fairfield (Conn.) County and a former member of the Williams College Alumni Association Executive Committee.
Stephen Hannock
Hannock is a luminist painter known for his landscape work; his design of visual effects for the 1998 film "What Dreams May Come" won an Academy Award. His work graces the collections of museums and collectors worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
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While rooted in tradition, his artistic practice continues to evolve. He blends attention to detail with spontaneity to achieve his creative vision. As an innovator, Hannock uses such unconventional tools as a power sander to "machine polish" his canvases, resulting in a luminosity that has become his trademark. Another recent innovation is the addition of text and collage techniques into his landscapes, resulting in paintings rich with ideas to engage the eye and the mind of the viewer.
He lives in Williamstown and maintains a studio in North Adams.
Josetta Owen
Owen graduated in 1965 from the college, where she was inspired by the humanitarian example of Dr. Albert Schweitzer and the call to service of President Kennedy. After graduating, she taught the children of migrant farm workers, and was selected to be a master teacher for education students at nearby San Jose (Calif.) State University.
 Josetta Owen
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Owen co-founded The Children of Abraham, a grassroots group dedicated to increased understanding among Christians, Jews and Muslims. She served on the board of Refugee Voices, which sought to publicize the plight of the displaced, and on the board of Nyumbani, a home for abandoned AIDS-afflicted children near Nairobi, Kenya.
Owen lives in California, where she continues her volunteer work as a board member of Samaritan House, an nongovernmental organization serving the poor in San Mateo County, and Shadhika, an organization founded to support the education of children of prostitutes in Calcutta. Through her humanitarian work, she travels extensively throughout the world, most recently to Tanzania, with an April trip to Peru planned to volunteer at a home for severely deformed children.
