Surgeon Speaking at Williams; Honorary Degree for Grant
Mary K. Grant
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Grant, the 11th president of the public college, has been noted for her efforts in growing enrollment, spearheading collaborations with other educational institutions, businesses and local organizations, and advancing arts, science and technology on campus.
She is the recipient of the 2010 Council for the Advancement and Support of Education District I Executive Leadership Award and the 2011 American Council on Education Massachusetts National Network of Women Leaders Lifetime Achievement Award.
The commencement speaker is Atul Gawande, a surgeon writer and public health researcher, and the baccalaureate speaker is Anna Deavere Smith, a playwright, actor, and professor.
Receiving honorary degrees along with Gawande, Smith and Grant are writer, editor and commentator David Brooks and Toby Cosgrove, president and chief executive officer of Cleveland Clinic and a 1962 graduate.
.jpg) Atul Gawande
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.jpg) Anna Deavere Smith |
Gawande practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. As founder of Lifebox, an international not-for-profit, he implemented systems and technologies to reduce surgical deaths globally. He is focused on transforming safety and performance in all areas of hospital care, which has contributed to his role as lead adviser for the World Health Organization's Safe Surgery Saves Lives program. A prolific writer, he has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 1998 and wrote three New York Times bestselling books.
Gawande also teaches as an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. He received an undergraduate degree from Stanford University, a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from Balliol College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar, a medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and a master's degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Anna Deavere Smith
Named "the most exciting individual in American theatre" by Newsweek, Smith uses her skills to explore issues of community, character, and diversity in America. Two of her best-known works are the one-woman plays about racial tensions she wrote and performed: "Fires in the Mirror" (Obie Award winner and runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize) and "Twilight: Los Angeles 1992" (Obie Award winner and Tony Award nominee). Smith won the Drama Desk Award for outstanding one-person show two years in a row for these plays. Smith has also appeared in several films, including "Rachel Getting Married," "Philadelphia" and "The American President," and she has a recurring role on the Showtime series "Nurse Jackie." She also played National Security Advisor Nancy McNally on NBC's "The West Wing." Her plays and performances have won her widespread recognition, including a MacArthur Foundation "genius" Fellowship. Her most recent book is "Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts," and her latest play is "Let Me Down Easy," which opened on Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre in 2009 and was broadcast on PBS in January 2012. She is a tenured professor at NYU's Tish School of the Arts.
David Brooks
.jpg) David Brooks
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Toby Cosgrove
As president and chief executive officer of Cleveland Clinic, Cosgrove oversees an extensive $6 billion
 Toby Cosgrove
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Mary K. Grant
Grant is the first MCLA alumna to serve as its president. Under her leadership, MCLA has expanded academic programming and facilities; provided students with new study, internship, research, and service opportunities; overseen growth in enrollment; strengthened the connections between the college and the community; and become part of the Massachusetts State University System. Grant has provided consistent leadership in advancing the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) agenda in Berkshire County and statewide, serving on the governor's STEM Advisory Council. Grant serves on a range of non-profit boards and established the Berkshire Compact for Higher Education. She received a bachelor's degree in sociology from MCLA, a master's degree in public affairs from the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts, and a doctorate in social policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University.
