TRINITY TODAY 2016
HONORARY DEGREES
Honorary Degrees Between winter 2016 and summer 2017, Trinity awarded eleven honorary degrees to outstanding individuals at two separate ceremonies. Among them were the US Vice President, a cancer awareness campaigner, the man behind a cult classic and Trinity’s oldest student.
Joseph Robinette Biden (LL.D.) Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., is the 47th Vice President of the United States of America and is the administration’s point person for diplomacy in the Western Hemisphere, addressing issues of governance, economics, and security. As a Senator from Delaware for 36 years, Vice President Biden established himself as a leader in facing some of the United States’ most important domestic and international challenges. As Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 17 years, then-Senator Biden was widely recognised for his work on criminal justice issues. As Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years, then-Senator Biden played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy. Vice President Biden was conferred with a Doctor in Laws (LL.D.).
Lia Mills (LL.D.)
Lia Mills is a novelist who also writes short stories and essays. In 2006, she was diagnosed with, and treated for, an advanced squamous cell carcinoma in her cheek and gums. Afterwards she published a memoir of the experience, In Your Face. Subsequently, she joined forces with interested professionals and other cancer survivors to co-found the Mouth, Head & Neck Cancer Awareness Ireland (MHNCAI) group, which initiated a campaign to raise public awareness of mouth cancer involving the Dublin and Cork dental schools, the Irish Cancer Society, the Dental Health Foundation, the Irish Dental Association, and cancer survivors. She was conferred with a Doctor in Laws (LL.D.).
James Patrick (J.P.) Donleavy (Litt.D.) Best known for his 1955 novel The Ginger Man, Donleavy’s seminal work caused such a furore that it was banned outright in both the U.S. and Ireland. Acknowledged as being in the top 100 Novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library, it is also a multimillion copy selling book and cult classic. He was part of a group of young Irish writers, who, in late-1940s Dublin, would come to be regarded as the vanguard of modern Irish literature. He developed a wide canon of work, including A Fairy Tale of New York and more latterly, scripted and starred in a televisual drama, In All Her Sins and Graces. Mr Donleavy was conferred with a Doctor in Letters (Litt.D.)
Peter McVerry SJ (LL.D.) Joseph Biden
Tomas (Tomi) Reichental (LL.D.) One of only three Holocaust survivors left in Ireland, Mr Tomi Reichental has, for the last ten years, dedicated his time to speaking of his experience in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to Irish secondary schools, third-level institutions and other fora to educate the Irish people about the Holocaust, to promote racial and religious tolerance and to further reconciliation and German-Irish friendship. In 2013, the German Ambassador presented Mr Reichental with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany can pay to individuals. Mr Reichental was born in 1935 in Slovakia to a Jewish family. Aged nine, he and other family members were taken to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He lost 35 members of his family in the Holocaust. He is the author of the book I was a Boy in Belsen and the subject of two Irish documentaries. He is closely associated with the Holocaust Education Trust Ireland. Mr Reichental was conferred with a Doctor in Laws (LL.D.).
Fr Peter McVerry has worked with vulnerable young people in inner city Dublin for the last 40 years during which time he has campaigned tirelessly for their rights. Ordained as a Jesuit in 1975, his vision for the Peter McVerry Trust is to support all those living on the margins and to uphold their rights to full inclusion in society. In 2014 the charity worked with 4,460 vulnerable youths. As a social activist Fr McVerry is a strong advocate for those who have no voice in society. He has written widely on issues relating to young homeless people such as accommodation, drugs, juvenile justice, the Gardaí, prisons and education. He was conferred with a Doctor in Laws (LL.D.).
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