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Honorary Degrees
An honorary degree is awarded to a person deserving of honor by virtue of scholarly distinction, noteworthy public service or significant contributions to the state of Idaho. In the selection of candidates for honorary degrees, preference is given to those who are Idaho residents or University of Idaho graduates.
UniversiTy of idaho – MosCow - honorary doCToraTe Rod Gramer is president and CEO of Idaho Business for Education, a group of nearly 250 Idaho business leaders working to help transform the Idaho education system into one of the best in the country. A system that sets our students up for success in school, work and life and creates the highly educated and skilled workforce Idaho’s economy needs for the 21st Century. Gramer spent 38 years working as a reporter, newspaper editor and television news executive. He worked for The Idaho Statesman for 14 years, serving as political editor and editorial page editor and columnist. He spent 10 years as executive news director at KTVB-TV, the NBC affiliate in Boise, including moderating the “Viewpoint” public affairs program. For 13 years he served as executive news director at the NBC station in Portland, Ore., turning KGWTV into the No. 1 source of broadcast news for the Portland metropolitan area. He finished his journalism career as vice president and general manager Rodney Eugene Gramer of Bay News 9, a 24-hour news station in Tampa Bay, Fla. Gramer is the author of three books: “Fighting the Odds: The Life of Senator Frank Church,” which he coauthored with historian LeRoy Ashby. This definitive biography of Idaho’s longtime U.S. senator won the Evans Biography Prize from Utah State University in 1994. Rod is also the author of a novel, “The Good Assassin.” A third book, “Lucky, The Wit and Wisdom of Governor Phil Batt,” will be published this spring by Caxton Printers of Caldwell. Rod has written articles and commentaries for numerous publications, including The New Republic, USA Today, Changes magazine, and several newspapers throughout Idaho. Gramer serves on numerous community boards, including the University of Idaho Foundation Board of Directors. He also serves on the advisory board for the School of Journalism and Mass Media at the University of Idaho and as chair of the advisory board for the University of Idaho’s WWAMI Medical Education Program, which is in partnership with the University of Washington School of Medicine. He also serves on the Frank Church Institute Board at Boise State University and on the board of the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights. He was a founding board member of the City Club of Boise and served two terms as president of the Idaho Press Club. In 2016, Gov. Butch Otter appointed Gramer to the Education Commission of the States where he still represents Idaho. Gramer is an Idaho native. He graduated from the University of Idaho in 1975 with a degree in both journalism and history. His wife, Julie, is a third-generation Idaho native, and is also a U of I graduate. Rod and Julie have been married for 44 years. Julie is a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice in Boise. They have two children. Their daughter, Jennifer, recently received her doctorate in history from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she lives with her husband, Lukas Wilhelmi. Their son, Robbie, is a reporter for Foreign Policy in Washington, D.C., where he covers diplomacy and national security issues. In recognition of his contributions to Idaho, journalism and education, U of I is proud to bestow on him the Doctor of Humane Letters with all of its rights, honors, privileges and responsibilities.
UniversiTy of idaho – MosCow - honorary doCToraTe Colonel William H. “Billy” Shaw III dedicated his years of service to enhancing the quality of life for citizens around the world through the stewardship of refugee camps and the military communities he led around the world.
He earned a degree in criminal justice at North Georgia College in Dahlonega, where he was a member of Scabbard and Blade, Order of Colombo and Sigma Nu fraternity. He received a Distinguished Military Award and a regular Army commission as a second lieutenant in 1984.
During his distinguished military career, he was awarded numerous commendations from the U.S. Army, including two Bronze Stars. His assignments included professor of military science at Auburn University; assistant to the commandant at his alma mater; missions to establish refugee camps for our Kurdish allies in the Gulf War; commander of Charlie Co. Europe based in Stuttgart, Germany; commander of Special Forces in Djibouti, Horn of Africa; and Camp Morehead/Camp Commando, the mountain training base for Afghan special forces. His last assignment was in Stuttgart as liaison between U.S. special operations and our European embassies. He was a Ranger, Pathfinder and Green Beret who loved skydiving and counted hundreds of jumps.
He brought his leadership experience in special warfare and emergency services training to community-based research focusing on adaptation and vulnerability issues. Additionally, he supported transformational leadership development for ROTC candidates and university administrators.
Billy became an affiliate with the University of Idaho’s Center for Resilient Communities in 2016 and championed collaborative research on adaptivity and vulnerability in special warfare and emergency services training and technology-induced environmental distancing. Billy was pursuing an interdisciplinary doctorate in this field from U of I at the time of his death. He was researching the subject of “Adaptive Transformation: A Transmedia-Based Extension of Special Forces Narrative Operations to Shape Human Terrain in Highly Asymmetric Theaters.”
Billy died in 2019 and is being granted the degree posthumously. Nothing was more important to Billy than his beloved family connections. He leaves behind his mother Nancy Shaw, brother Glenn Shaw, former wife Mary Kay Shaw, and two daughters Bailey Grace Shaw and Shannon Elizabeth Shaw who will accept the honor on his behalf.
Colonel William H. Shaw III
UniversiTy of idaho – MosCow - honorary doCToraTe
Jerry Kramer overcame a series of childhood injuries to become an excellent football ball player at the University of Idaho. The guard was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fourth round (39th player overall) of the 1958 NFL Draft. He starred for the Green Bay Packers from 1958 to 1968 playing most of his 11-season career under the direction of Hall of Fame Coach Vince Lombardi. Upon his entry into the NFL, he soon was hailed as one of the best blockers in the game and earned his first All-NFL acclaim in 1960, the same year the Packers lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL championship game. That game ended up as Kramer’s only career postseason loss. He continued his high level of play all while overcoming several debilitating injuries. In 1961, he missed several games due to a broken ankle that required a permanent pin to heal. Then, in 1964, he missed most of the season due to intestinal infections from wood splinters in his abdomen that required eight Jerry Kramer surgeries to rectify. In each instance, he returned to All-NFL form. Kramer played 130 games as the Packers guard and served as the team’s placekicker for several seasons. His leadership and talents helped the franchise capture five NFL championships and victories in Super Bowls I and II. At the time of his retirement in 1968, he held the NFL Championship Game record for most field goal attempts in a single game (five against the New York Giants in 1962) and the Packers’ team record for most PATs in a season (43 in 1963). He earned All-NFL acclaim five times (1960, 1962-63, 1966-67) and was voted to three Pro Bowls. Kramer was also named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1960s, the NFL’s 50th Anniversary Team in 1969 and the Super Bowl Silver Anniversary Team. Kramer collaborated with Dick Schaap on his first book, the best-selling Instant Replay, a diary of the season which chronicled the life of a professional football offensive lineman. He wrote a second book, Farewell to Football. After retiring as a player in May 1969, Kramer briefly worked as a color commentator on CBS’ NFL telecasts. Following Lombardi’s death from cancer in 1970, Kramer edited Lombardi: Winning Is the Only Thing, a collection of reminiscences from coaches, players, friends, and family of Lombardi whom Kramer interviewed for the book. In 1985, Kramer wrote Distant Replay, which updated the whereabouts of the members of the Packers’ Super Bowl I championship team. In October 2005, he released Inside the Locker Room, a CD set that includes Lombardi’s final locker room address as the head coach of the Packers in January 1968, immediately after Super Bowl II. In September 2006, Kramer re-released his 1968 best seller, Instant Replay. Kramer was inducted into the University of Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 and is being awarded a University of Idaho Alumni Association, Distinguished Idahoan Award, their highest award, in 2021. After retirement from the NFL, Kramer lived on a ranch near Parma in southwestern Idaho. He now resides in Boise. In recognition of his contributions to the University of Idaho, athletics and literary works, the university is proud to bestow on him the Doctor of Humane Letters with all its rights, honors, privileges and responsibilities.
