Janet Reno
        Micheal Beach
        Mary, Viscountess Eccles

          Joseph Abboud
          Julia Child
         James J. Karam

 

Janet Reno

Janet Reno will be awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Ms Reno became the first woman Attorney General of the United States when she was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 and again in 1997. Ms. Reno previously had served for 15 years as chief prosecutor for Florida's Dade County. In winning five tough elections to that post, critics and supporters alike credited her reputation as a public official of "ramrod integrity" and the "most accessible public figure in the state of Florida" as the key elements of her election victories. A 1963 graduate of Harvard Law School, Ms. Reno was among 16 women in a class of 500. Her gender presented challenges in pursuing her legal career. But she later would become a partner in a prominent Miami law firm that had first refused to hire her because she is a woman.Throughout her public law career, she has been credited with aggressive prosecution of violent criminals, prevention and early intervention efforts to protect children from violence and drugs, enforcement of civil rights and equal opportunity, and leadership of the Justice Department's goals of professionalism, integrity and employment diversity.

Joseph Abboud

Joseph Abboud will be awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts degree. A graduate of UMass Boston, Mr. Abboud is Chairman Emeritus and Creative Director of Joseph Abboud, an industry leader in menswear. He created the label shortly after leaving Ralph Lauren and soon began receiving critical and peer accolades for his sleek, elegant and flattering cuts that featured earth tones and natural fibers such as cotton, silk, wool, cashmere and linen. His honors include the 1986 Cutty Sark Award as most promising menswear designer; the 1987 Woolmark Award as best designer of menswear; the 1988 Special Achievement Award from the Neckwear Association of America, Inc. and 1994 Menswear Designer of the Year. Mr. Abboud also was named Council Fashion Designer of the Year for 1989-90 by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

 

 

 

 

Michael Beach

Michael Beach will be awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. A native of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Mr. Beach is a classically trained, award-winning actor who has worked in theater, film and television for nearly two decades. Mr. Beach is perhaps best known by American television audiences for his most recent roles in the series "Third Watch" and "ER". He also starred in the films "Waiting to Exhale" with Angela Bassett and appeared in the acclaimed film, "Soul Food" starring Vanessa Williams and Viveca A. Fox. Mr. Beach, who won the 1982 NAACP National Drama Competition, is a graduate of the Julliard School. At Julliard in 1984, he earned the Drama Award for Outstanding Achievement and two years later, he won the New York Shakespeare Festival Award. Married and the father of four, Mr. Beach lives in Los Angeles and teaches acting.

Julia Child

Julia Child, cookbook author and culinary educator, will be awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Mrs. Child is a legendary chef, author and connoisseur whose energy and wit have won her millions of devotees around the world. Born in Pasadena, California, she is a graduate of Smith College and the Cordon Bleu in Paris. Mrs. Child's groundbreaking 1961 book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, led to the long-running PBS series, "The French Chef." The show's enormous success led to series such as the "Master Chefs" program and "Baking at Julia's." The latest of her nine books are The Way to Cook, Cooking with Master Chefs and In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs. Mrs. Child is an active member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and a co-founder of the American Institute of Wine and Food. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the "Ordre de Merite National" from the French Government.

 

 

 

 

Mary, Viscountess Eccles

Mary, Viscountess Eccles (Mary Morley Crapo Hyde Eccles) will be awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Viscountess Eccles is an English scholar with family roots in New Bedford. A writer, collector and preservationist, Viscountess Eccles received her A.B. from Vassar and her M.A, and Ph.D. from Columbia. Her publications include Playwriting for Elizabethans (1949); Samuel Johnson: Diaries, Prayers and Annals (1958); The Impossible Friendship: Boswell and Mrs. Thrale (1972); Bernard Shaw and Alfred Douglas: a Correspondence (1982); The Letters of Samuel Johnson, Vols. I-V (1992-94) and James Boswell's Book of Company at Auchinleck,1782-1795 (1995). Viscountess Eccles' collections on Johnson, Boswell, the Thrales, Bernard Shaw and Alfred Douglas are considered among the foremost in private hands. A member of the Johnson Society, the Boswell Society, the Grolier Club and the Royal Society of the Arts, she divides her time between London and New Jersey, where she is active in farmland preservation.

James J. Karam

James J. Karam will be awarded a Doctor of Business Administration. Mr. Karam is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and has been chairman, vice-chairman and a member of the UMD Foundation Board of Directors since 1989. Mr. Karam is vice chairman of the UMass Foundation in Boston and chairman of the Center for Marine Science and Technology Advisory Board. He is president and founder of the First Bristol Corporation, a developer of quality retail shopping centers, multi-family housing and office buildings throughout southern New England. Mr. Karam is a recipient of the Citizens for Citizens "Hubert H. Humphrey Award," was inducted a member of the United Way of Fall River's Lantern Society and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth "Entrepreneur of the Year" Award. He lives in Tiverton, R.I. with his wife, Janis, and four children.