Recipients of honorary degrees at the University must be prominent in a particular area and have a strong connection to BGSU.

Martin J. Sherwin and Maestro Leonard Slatkin are the most recent individuals to be awarded an honorary degree at the University.

Doug Smith, vice president of the University of Advancement, describes a holder of an honorary degree as “an individual that has distinguished themselves in their professional life and has a meaningful relationship with the University.”

There is a committee of disciplined University faculty members who nominate highly recognized professionals to receive an honorary degree.

Gary Hess, a distinguished research professor, is one of the many people who recommended Sherwin for the award.

“He is an outstanding historian whose books on the development of the atomic bomb and the physicist Robert Oppenheimer made major contributions to the understanding of American nuclear policy and the politics of the nuclear issue,” Hess said.

Sherwin is a professor at Tufts University, a renowned author and the founding director of many programs at various colleges.

“I am honored to become an alumni of BGSU and pleased because the degree will bring me back to BG, which I visited as the producer and host of the Global Classroom Project over a decade and a half ago,” Sherwin said.

According to Slatkin’s Web site, he is an American conductor and music director of the National Symphony Orchestra. He has directed many other symphonies and festivals and has performed opera in the United States and around the world. Slatkin has also been nominated for over 50 Grammy awards and has won five of them.

Emily Freeman Brown was one of many who recommended Slatkin for an honorary degree. Slatkin was a mentor and advisor to Brown in 1989.

Brown now directs the Orchestra Program on campus which thrived from Slatkin’s teachings, making him responsible for the growth of the program here.

“Sherwin and Slatkin are nationally and internationally recognized leaders in their respective field,” Smith said. “Those individuals being honored by BGSU brings distinction and prestige to the University as a whole.”